Wings in the workshop
by RaygunRenee
Summary: Flight romance AU with some Vanille x Serah mixed in. A collection of boring daily events between two useless lesbians.
1. Chapter 1

Lightning huffed and closed the door behind her as she walked inside her home. Dropping her bag by the stairs she walked into the living room and looked around, strange. Serah was usually lounging on the couch during the weekend.

"Serah?"  
Lightning made her way into the kitchen and grunted as she read the note on the fridge.

 _'Hey Claire I'm going out with Vanille. Hope you had a good day at work. I'll be home later tonight.'_

"Could have told me Serah..."

She put the note aside and opened the fridge looking through it for a moment before grabbing an apple and a beer before closing it with her boot. She leant down and grabbed her bag before making her way up stairs and into her room. The door shut with a click and she sighed as she took a seat. She loved working for the Guardian Corps, she really did but the recruits were sometimes just painfully irritating. The group she was training today had somehow broken a short sword and another got slashed by a gorgonopsid on a routine patrol although it was only shallow.

She took a sip of her beer and relaxed in her chair. She sat her beer down beside her laptop and lifted the screen. First she had to check her mail, her face lit up as she read over the first letter in her inbox and mumbled to herself.

'Hello miss Farron. Your parts have arrived and are being held at our Pulsian Mechanixs workshop for you.'

Lightning shut the lid of her laptop and grabbed some clothes before ducking into the shower. She quickly scrubbed herself with soap and washed her hair before jumping out in a flash and hurriedly dried herself off. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and took one last mouthful of her beer before she set off.

Serah opened the door and walked inside with Vanille right behind her. She looked up at the stairs as Lightning ran down them two steps at a time.  
"Going somewhere Claire? Or more hopefully going to someone?"

Lightning looked at her and sighed. "No. The parts I ordered just arrived. I was going to go and get them from the workshop before it closed tonight."  
"Ah okay. Well umm be careful okay."

"Alright. I'll be back soon Serah and it's nice to see you again Vanille. Just make sure I don't come home to you guys eating each other's faces on the couch again."

The redhead perked up at the mention of her name with her usual cheery attitude. " It's good to see you too Light. Have fun."

The girls made their way into the kitchen after she closed it behind her.

Lightning sat on her bike, the Blazefire Saber or so Lightning called it and put the key in the ignition, taking in the sound of the engine started. She grinned under the visor of her helmet and accelerated out of the drive way. Kicking it up a gear, she sped through the city enjoying taking in as much of the high speed thrill as she could. She slowed down as the sign for the workshop came into view, slowly pulling into the parking lot and kicking down her stand as she hopped off, taking the key with her. She sighed in relief as the lights were still on. A bell rang as she pushed the door opened and the attendant looked up from the magazine they were reading.

"Hello, you must be miss Farron?" Lightning noted their accent.

"How did you know?"  
"Well you know, you're sorta the only 'miss' that comes here…" The attendant chuckled and let a grin cross their face. "Well I won't keep you waiting." She turned around and looked over the shelves for Lightning's order.

Lightning took a moment to look over the woman and admire her features. She was a little taller than herself and from where her work shirt pulled up she could see a little of her tanned skin.

"Like what you see Sunshine?"

Lightning coughed and looked up to see the attendant back down at her, a grin across her face.

"Is my package up there?"  
"No but mine is."

Her gaze plummeted to the ground, earning a chuckle from the attendant who noticed the red flooding her cheeks.

"I'll check out back."

Lightning sighed as the woman disappeared behind a door and left her to regain what was left of her focus. She grabbed out her phone and decided to read a little while she waited. Peering up over her phone as the fanfiction app loaded, the woman still wasn't back… She sighed and scrolled the lists and picked out something, slowly letting herself be absorbed into the literature on the screen.

"So miss Farron here's your package."

Lightning jumped a little and looked at the woman. Her grin still plastered across her face.

"Ah… Thank you…"

"Fang." She smirked as she handed Lightning the case. "It's a nice motorcycle you got out there."

"How did you know?" Lightning looked at her a little caught off guard.  
"Your parts, they're for a bike and considering that you have your helmet there..." Fang pointed to the helmet still on the desk while Lightning grunted internally.

"Oh, of course… Well I guess I'll see you around Fang."  
"Only if your bike breaks…"

Lightning chuckled as she put the motorcycle piece in her bag and noticed the pause, letting a faint smile come over her. "Lightning." With that she pulled her helmet back on and made her way back to her bike. Fang waved to her as she pulled out onto the street. Fang however stood stunned inside.

"Dammit. I forgot to get her number." She scratched her head and huffed as she went back inside. "I wonder what Vanille is getting up to…"

'I swear if Serah and Vanilla are doing it on my couch… again…' Lightning frowned as her bike raced through the city once more. What could she punish them with this time… She pulled up her driveway and thought over whether she should knock before she went inside her own house… She huffed and opened the door to find something quite unexpected.

"Wow you guys aren't eating each other's faces." Lightning raised an eyebrow quite surprised, earning a glare from Serah. "What?"  
"Claire… First off it isn't eating faces, it's kissing. And second, like you've never brought someone home."

Lightning smirked and stopped. "I haven't." She grinned and continued upstairs, eager to get a glance at the new part for her bike and preferably before she left for work tomorrow. She kicked her shoes off and sat the box on her desk with one hand, the other picking her laptop up to make room. Letting out a yawn as she grabbed a knife and opened the box. After painfully removing countless layers of wrapping she sighed in relief as she finally laid her eyes upon it, and oh was it worth the couple thousand gil she had spent on it. 


	2. Chapter 2

Wings in the Workshop Chapter 2 

Fang closed the door behind her as she walked back inside her apartment and threw her keys on the coffee table. She took her jacket off and flicked the switch on the kettle in the kitchen. The kettle rumbled as it boiled and she put three sugars into her mug along with a spoonful of coffee. With a hot cup in her hand she made her way back over to the couch and sat down, pulling out her phone as she sat her cup steadily down on the table.  
"Dammit Vanille what are you doing? At least text me…" She huffed and took a mouthful of her drink and laid back, letting a yawn pass through her. "Lightning huh? She looked familiar…" Fang mumbled to herself before taking another sip and curling up on the couch. 

"Morning!"  
Fang looked up at Vanille and winced. "Huh? When did you get back?"  
"A little while ago, you were passed out on the couch." Vanille sat a fresh cup of coffee for Fang on the table and took a seat in the armchair.  
"Hey Vanille..." Fang sat up and grabbed the cup of coffee, a soft moan passed over her as she pressed it against her lips and took a small mouthful.  
"Yeah?"  
"Does Serah have a sister?"  
Vanille waggled her eyebrows and smirked. "Why do you ask?"  
"I saw someone who looked like her last night. I think she was checking me out."  
"She does. You met her?" Vanille leant forward and nearly fell out of her chair.  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Well what'd you think? Was she cute?"  
"Umm sure..." Fang narrowed her brows as she stared at Vanille. "What did you get up to last night?"  
"Umm I went out with Serah and had some take out. After that we went back to her place and played some video games."  
"You could have texted me you know."  
Vanille chuckled and took a sip of her tea. "Yeah sorry... I kinda forgot. SO I was thinking after breakfast we could go out and have lunch, maybe invite Light."  
"Light? Yagami?"  
A moment passed of Vanille's deadpan stare. "No... Just no. Lightning, the kind that should strike you down for such a grave offence." She mumbled and stood up to rinse out her cup.  
"Okay sorry, sheesh. I'm gonna go have a shower, wanna cook waffles?"  
Vanille nodded and grabbed a pan. "Sure." She began heating it and gathering what they'd need when the shower burst into life. Humming, Vanille put some oil in the pan and the batter in the bowl beside her. Her phone buzzed and flashed as Serah called. She grabbed it and pressed it against her ear.  
"What's cooking good looking?"  
"Waffles. Ooh apparently Fang had a run in with Light."  
"WHAT?! How'd it go?"  
Vanille sat the phone down and switched it to speaker to prevent herself from being deafened by the pinkette's outbursts.

"Umm good I guess, apparently Fang caught Light checking her out."  
A fit of coughing could be heard on the other end as Vanille flipped the first batch of pancakes over.  
"You're serious aren't you?"  
Vanille looked over to the bathroom as the water slowed to a halt. "Yeah..."  
"Ah so what are we going to do? Light could definitely use someone so she can stop obsessing over her bike."  
Vanille chuckled and moved the pancakes to a plate before starting another batch. "Yeah I know right, Fang's the same. It's always Suzuki this, Suzuki that..."  
"Suzuki is god!" Fang glared at her.  
"Right... Pancakes." Vanille slid the plate across and picked up her phone, switching it off loud speaker. "Hey, so we're getting lunch at the usual place?"  
"Yep. Want me to bring Lightning?"  
"Yeah it could be fun. See you Serah."  
"Bye Van."  
Vanille sat her phone down and looked over to Fang who had half a pancake in her mouth. "Nice pancakes..." A sinister grin crossed her face.  
Fang let the pancake fall out of her mouth as she looked down, her eyes widened in horror as she looked at her food. A large K branded on all the pancakes. "Traitor!" She stabbed the pancakes and frowned.  
"You've been tainted, join the dark side Luke." Vanille hunched over and did her best emperor Palpatine impersonation.  
"Umm... hyaa!" Fang through a pancake and hit Vanille square in the face. "Suzuki has prevailed over your evil Kawasaki empire."  
Vanille grabbed a cloth and wiped as much pancake off of her face as she could. "So wanna get some clothes?"  
"Yep." Fang stood up and frowned at the loss of delicious pancakes as she made her way to her room. She came out to Vanille who was in the process of finishing up the dishes. "So we're hanging out with Serah?"  
Vanille looked up and winked. "She might bring cutie along as well."  
Fang blushed a little and brushed her hand through her hair trying to play it cool. "Oh yeah? Sounds fun." 

Vanille's car pulled into the cafe's parking lot and parked close to the building with Fang riding just behind on her bike. Fang climbed off and followed Vanille inside, cringing as she stepped inside.  
"Gah it's so..."  
Vanille looked at her and frowned. "Now Fang..."  
"Yeah I know... No talking about motorbikes."  
Vanille grinned and pat her on the head. "Good Fang. Let's get a table." Vanille looked around for a nice table and immediately marched to claim her spot before someone else did. Fang sat down and groaned, everything was so... urgh. The bell above the door rang sending Fang's gaze away from the overly pink menu's and to Serah and a broody looking woman who was scowling at the cafe, well at least someone understood her plight.  
"Vanille." Serah waved and made her way over and gave Serah a quick kiss before sitting down. Lightning sat down beside her and looked around, her scowl widening as Serah thrust a menu in her hands.  
"Hey lightning?"  
"Hey Vanille how's things?" She sat the down the menu and took anything that wasn't overly saturated in pink, that included the woman dressed casually behind the red head.  
"Good, you saw me this morning..." She grinned and scanned the menu and nodded as a woman in a candy striped dress came over.  
"Hey there. What can we get you?"

Serah held up her hand. "I'll have some pancakes and Claire do you want bacon and eggs?"  
"Mmm." She nodded.  
"And I'll have a large stack of waffles." Vanille proclaimed cheerfully.  
The waitress finished writing their order and looked up with a smile. "It won't be a moment."  
"Hey Serah do you mind if I have a smoke while you guys wait." Lightning looked over to Serah who nodded in response.  
"Go ahead." Serah shrugged and took a sip of her tea as Lightning navigated her way through the overly pink cafe, sighing as she made it back outside.  
Fang stood up. "I'm gonna leave you two love birds and join her." 

Lightning's lighter snapped shut as she took a puff of her cigarette and looked over the black motorcycle parked beside her Saber. A red and black Suzuki GSX R1000.  
"Admiring my honey?" Fang called out with a cigarette in her mouth as she walked over beside her.  
"It's nice although no where near as nice as my CBR."  
Fang's eye twitched. "Mm I'd love to see that. But hey it could be worse... At least it's not a Kawasaki."  
"That would be fun however you can't ride without legs and we'd never get away fast enough." Lightning chuckled as she cast a glance over at the two girls sitting in the cafe.  
"True. So you like motorcycles?" Fang sat against her bike and exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke.  
Lightning nodded. "Yeah my dad gave me a super four when I was sixteen and I've liked them ever since. It was nice you know, to get away from everything. Especially when Serah brought girls around..."  
"Hehe mm. Thanks for taking Vanille though, she's a pain sometimes." Fang groaned which earned her a playful punch in the shoulder.  
"No take your burdens dammit. I'm sick of coming home to them on the couch... I liked that couch..." Lightning and Fang both laughed and looked back at the cafe.  
"Well no point in postponing the inevitable." Fang stood up and flicked her cigarette away and turned as she began to head back to the cafe. A flicker caught her in her tracks.  
Lightning held out a card with a number scrawled on it. "Here."  
"Is that your number?"  
"Yes and you better call me. I could use someone to ride with."  
Fang grinned and winked. "You betcha sunshine."

 **a/n**

 **Just some stuff to get out of the way. Saber is Lightning's nickname for her Honda CBR and not an actual bike that I know of. For pointless information it is a CBR 1000RR and Fang's bike is a Suzuki GSX-R1000. Enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N - Hey guys just chucking this in before we get started. Sorry for the delay I was away from my pc for half the week so yeah... So the fanfiction takes place in a modern day earth hence the Australian thing, Lightning by the way is an American, Vanille is English and Serah is of course American as well... What to write... *intense thinking**

 **Oh yes! Reviews, comments and criticism is all very appreciated and welcome so please feel free to leave anything in the reviews! Thanks guys and enjoy!**

Lightning groaned as she grabbed her phone, a smile crossing her face as she the recipient of whoever dared text her so damn early. It was Fang.

'Be there in like twenty minutes sunshine.'

"Oh yeah, we're going riding today." She reminded herself as she climbed out from under her blankets and went to the bathroom. The warm water that shot out of the shower head and rained down over her was very relaxing. A few long minutes later she stepped out somewhat regrettably and dried herself off before pulling herself into some clothes. Serah was waiting for her in the kitchen with a feint smirk across her face.

"Good morning Claire." Serah heaved herself up on the counter with a cup of coffee in her hands. She took a sip before looking up and meeting Lightning's still half sleep face. "How was yesterday?"  
"It was... fun.' Lightning poured herself a cup of coffee and let a smile sneak over her. Looking up she noticed Serah's deadpan look.

"She likes bikes doesn't she?"  
Lightning looked at her and huffed. "Serah... It's not the only reason I like her... But yes, she does have somewhat of an interest in bikes."  
"Mkay." Serah took a sip of her drink and grinned. "So what are you doing today?"  
"Going out riding." Lightning sat her cup down and stretched her arms. "Umm you?."

Serah nodded. "I'm gonna go hang out with Vanille. Have fun with Fang." She grinned and rinsed her cup.

"Cool just you know keep the face eating to a minimum."

Serah turned a little red at her sister's comment before heading out. "You too Claire."

Lightning quickly finished up her coffee and decided to check up on her bike before heading out with Fang. She pressed the button to raise the garage door and rolled her bike out into the driveway.

"Hey Sunshine!"

Lightning looked up to Fang as she pulled up beside her and turned her bike off, her black hair and tanned skin coming into view as her helmet came off.

"Hey." Lightning waved and put the stand down on her bike.  
"Whatcha doin'?"

"Just doing a check over before we head off." Lightning looked over her bike and nodded when she was satisfied with the state of the bike.

"All good?" Fang looked at her and purred as Lightning's CBR's engine started up.  
"Yeah, might wanna get some fuel first though." Lightning looked at Fang and grinned. "I'm gonna go grab my gear." Lightning headed back inside leaving Fang alone for a moment.

Fang's jaw dropped as Lightning emerged a few minutes later in her green and silver leathers, = a helmet resting against her slender waist. Lightning blushed a little and looked at Fang.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope... Definitely not. Right so wanna swing by the servo and grab some fuel."

Lightning chuckled and looked at her slightly confused. "That's Australian for a fuel station right?"

"Yeah.." Fang pulled her helmet back on and turned her key, grinning as her GSX roared.

"Australians..." Lightning huffed and accelerated, leading out with Fang behind her.

"What the..." Fang crooked a brow as she pulled into the New Bodhum Race Course behind Lightning. "What are we doing here?"

Lightning huffed and flipped her visor up. "Settling which is faster, my CBR or you GSX."

"Fine with me. I didn't think it'd come to this so soon but if that's what you want."

Lightnin hopped off her bike and headed inside to get their passes. The man behind the counter cocked a smirk as he watched her enter.

"Looking for a day pass Lightning?" He turned around and proceeded looked for the pass before she could respond.

"Mm thanks Zack however could I get two this time?"

Zack stopped and turned around. "What? Are you saying... Serah would never so... Maybe however highly doubtful." He grunted and rubbed his chin.

"I have a friend..."

"Hmm Really?" He gulped as a Farron death glare sent shivers down his spine. "... So ahem. Here's your passes." Zack handed her the passes and gave her a thumbs up. "Go get 'em kid!"

"Ah... Thanks." Lightning looked at him for a little longer, just how long was he going to hold that pose? She stepped outside to Fang who had an alarming grin.

"Hey." Fang held out an orange and a can or soda.

"Hey?"

"Here I got these for you."  
"Ah... Not to be rude but why?" Lightning took the gifts although something told her not to.

"Because orange you glad I... Gauah!" Fang winced as the orange hit her and threatened to destroy her ribs, thankfully it being just a rather soft fruit which exploded into an orange ball of death.

Lightning pulled the ring up on the can with a little 'psss' and took a sip of the soda. "Thanks for the soda but no puns. Got the passes by the way." Lightning walked over to the bin and threw her empty can in before returning to her bike.

"So what are we betting sunshine?"

"Huh?" Lightning looked at Fang and gave in. "Fine. If I win you have to make me something Australian."

"Mmm sounds good and if I win you have to let me take you on a date."

Lightning turned bright red and looked at her. "A date? You're serious?"

"Dead serious sunshine." Fang nodded and put her helmet back on.

"Alright but you better make me something good. Now two laps warm up and then a rolling start at forty okay with you?" Lightning pulled her helmet on and sat on her bike.

"Sounds good to me." Fang grinned and kicked her GSX into gear.

Zack watched from the sidelines as the two exchanged blows across the course, a constant struggle for first position. The CBR roared as Lightning rounded the third corner and accelerated. A black glimmer in her mirror meant Fang had come around the corner faster than what she had expected. She tore down the short straight in a fashion true to her name and began reading herself for the corner. Fang's GSX however made just as quick work of the straight and like a hunter she stuck to her prey. Fang grinned and rode up behind Lightning on the entry of the corner. Mustering her courage she accelerated and pulled beside the pinkette in attempt to overtake on the outside. As soon as she cleared the curve she gave it her all. Lightning having the inside line frowned as she watched Fang creep closer and closer to overtaking her and finally swore under her breath as her CBR was pushed into second. Fang had the inside line for the next corner now and she took it with that damn ballsy overtake, damn she was good. She slowed as much as she needed to take the corner properly, leaving Lightning snarling as she kept pace with Fang, unable to make a move just yet. Fang took off towards the next corner with Lightning close behind her. Unfortunately their bikes were pretty much balanced leaving the outcome up to cunning and skill rather than straight up power... Lightning sped up and blew past Fang, rapidly decelerating and leaning over to help steer the bike around the corner. Her tires sounded off as they rubbed against the ripple strip. She let out a breath and relaxed as her bike straightened up and Fang was thankfully once again behind her... Or for a little while at least. Lightning's opponent though was hell bent on winning that date as she tail gated her, her piecing emerald eyes gleamed through her black helmet.

"Dammit piss off!" Lightning shouted as they entered the hairpin before the final straight.

"Hell no Sunshine." Fang rounded the hairpin on the outside and nearly passed Lightning who thankfully cleared the corner first and regained a few inches of a lead. Her CBR cut a fine line down the straight however the GSX was right behind her and closing what little gap Lightning had managed to wedge between them. Beads of sweat dripped down her face as the seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours... dammit! Was she going to make? Was she..?

Both bikes ripped over the finish line in a flash. Lightnign hit the brakes and slowed down, Fang doing the same before pulling into the pit lane. Both of them turned to Zack who chuckled.

"It was a draw."

A few seconds passed as his words sunk in.

"You're joking..." Fang took off her helmet and sighed. "I guess you don't want to have another race?"

Lightning wiped the torrent of sweat that covered her whole face. "No... It's a draw though so... I guess we both won..?"  
Fang grinned and sat her helmet down. "Hey at least you get Australian food and I have the perfect date for you."


	4. Chapter 4

Lightning sat on the back of the GSX, her arms tightly fastened around Fang's waist. Her eyes darting from side to side as they navigated their way through the streets towards a richer area. Fancy cars littered the streets and left Lightning's jaw hanging.  
"Hey Fang just where are we going?"

"My place." Fang looked back for a second to get a glimpse of the pinkette before turning her attention back on the road.

"Your place? I thought you lived with Vanille."  
Fang shook her head and gave as much of a shrug as she could while holding onto her bike. "Nah I just crash there a lot. It's closer to where I work as well."

Lightning nodded and remained silent for the rest of the journey which ended when Fang pulled off the main road and into a large apartment building's parking complex.

"You live here? Like really here?" Lightning looked at thing in disbelief, there's no way a woman who sleeps on a couch and wears k-pop shirts(although they were probably vanille's shirts) could own something like this.

"Hey you, keep that mind of yours in check, we'll see soon enough." Fang parked her bike and turned to poke Lightning's visor, Lightning nodded and let the tanned woman do so before climbing off the bike. The walk over to the elevator was quiet, as Lightning's mind couldn't help itself to the endless possibilities Fang's finances. What else did she do other than sit around the garage?

"Hey you coming?" Fang looked at Lightning who stood clueless.

"Oh the elevator, sorry." She jumped in and Fang let the door's close behind her. She reached over and pressed the button for the eight floor.

"Ah so you don't have a penthouse apartment?" Lightning looked at Fang who huffed and shook her head.

"Sunshine this place isn't that expensive... It's like four hundred a week." Fang rubbed her neck and grinned. "Plus I don't live here alone."

"Oh okay. It's nice." Lightning looked around as Fang slid her key into the lock and pushed the door open. "It's very nice." Lightning stepped in and looked around. "So where's your roommate?"

Fang listened for a moment. "One second." She smiled and made her way over to a door and slowly opened it. Her room mate, Lebreau was passed on her bed. Fang crept backwards and closed the door as quietly as she could.

"She's passed out. So umm something Australian... We have pies."

Lightning looked at her a little confused. "Pies aren't... Australian, are they?"

"They have meat in them." Fang opened the freezer and sat a packet of pies on the bench. "They go well with chips, especially when baked."  
"You put meat in them... This is why we locked you guys up on an island." Lightning chuckled and watched Fang as she turned the oven on and put two pies inside.

"So who's your room mate?" Lightning laid back on the couch and took as much of the apartment in as she could.

"Getting comfy? And to answer your question Lebreau used to be my old mechanic." Fang handed Lightning a picture of her and Lebreau standing in a pit stop while dressed in overalls and leathers.

"Wait! You were a racer?" Lightning clutched the picture in her hands.

Fang looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, I was." She took a seat on the adjacent couch and stretched her legs over the arm rest.

"So cool. Why don't you do it any more?"  
"Hmm oh I got bored."

Lightning glared at her. "That can't be the real reason..."

"Fine. So we were racing in professionally thanks to a sponsor who paid a chunk of expenses on the condition that we win the seasonal cup. Well as I'm sure you can guess we didn't win, the sponsor cut ended the contract and we could no longer afford to keep going, so we dropped out and boosh." Fang huffed and shifted on the couch, uncomfortable more so from the memories than the black leather cushions.

"Ah I'm sorry..." Lightning sat the photo down, her face taking to her emotions for a brief moment. "I shouldn't have..."

Fang looked at her and smiled, waving her hand as to brush away the weight that settled in the air. "Nah it's fine. It was years ago now. Plus the workshop isn't that bad."

Lightning nodded, absorbed into her own thoughts. "THAT'S IT!" She shot to her feet and pressed her hands together.

"Umm Sunshine, mind elaborating?"

"Oh... You need a new sponsor right and then you can keep racing?"

Fang sheepishly nodded and watched her, it was so unlike her to be so... expressive.

"So what if the Guardian Corps sponsored you?"  
"Then we could race, but the Guardian Corps is a government group and there's no point in them sponsoring a bike team, unless we had some new velocycle or laser guns or something."

Lightning plopped back down and rested her chin in her hands. "Yeah... Damn."

The timer for the oven interrupted them and prompted Fang away from the couch.

"Hey do you want sauce?" Fang scooped the pies onto some plates with the chips piled on the side."  
"Sure. Wait so if you're a professional racer how did you lose?" Lightning fidgeted on the couch and grabbed a cushion as her food arrived. "Thanks."

Fang cut the lid off of her pie with a spoon before taking a bite out of it. "You know maybe you're just good."

"Maybe, I doubt it though." Lightning nibbled at her pie.

"Okay maybe a little." Fang chuckled and sat her food down. "So wanna watch some netflix?"

"Netflix on a first Date? I think you might be over estimating your charm." Lightning teased and smiled as a shade of pink ran across the tanned woman's face.

"I didn't mean it like that... Doofus." Fang threw a cushion at Lightning before crawling over to her laptop. She looked back and watched Lightning get comfortable. "So what do you wanna watch Sunshine?"

"Hmm Gotham?" Lightning prodded her pie and used the remainder of the lid as a scoop. "Hey these are pretty good."

"Okay. Why Gotham?" Fang sat back on the couch

Lightning looked at her and smiled. "Because Cat woman is adorable. Hey I can like things you know." She pouted a bit in response to the confused look Fang was giving her.

"And do you like me?" Fang teased and bit her lip.

"Mm a little." Lightning shrugged and continued eating her pie, leaving the room in silence except for the intro and Fang's brain turning to mush. "You're fun to be around, and you like bikes..."

"Hehe thanks. So umm have you finished Gotham..? Because it's quite batty."

Fang's pun was met with a farron death glare and a cushion to the face.

"No puns..."


	5. Chapter 5

Wings In the Workshop Chapter 5

 **A/N - So first off... Sorry for the late release but it was Halloween so I binged on junk food and played spooky video games with friends all weekend, hope all you guys had a great Halloween too. Secondly to Nice but Messy I will do my best to improve and not be a lazy potato, thanks for the review by the way. Hope you all enjoy!**

"Lightning are you sure about covering for me?" Aerith looked like she had just killed a puppy or something, and to further irritate the pinkette Aerith was unsure whether to leave for a date with her boyfriend or stay and slog away at paperwork with her partner.

"Huh, oh yeah. I have to do paperwork anyway. Have fun on your date." Lightning looked up from her paperwork and shooed the woman away. She'd probably get more work done without Aerith around anyway.

"Okay okay I'm going. Thanks so much. I owe you Farron!" Aerith waved and hurried out, leaving Lightning to slump down in her chair behind the towers of paper in relief.

"Ah finally. She's harder to get rid of than Serah..." She groaned as she reached out for another stack of paper and began sorting through it. This was definitely not something she thought she'd be doing when she enlisted in the Guardian corps. Sorting through reports was bad enough, even worse most of the stuff she was looking through was tiresome and boring, no intriguing mystery or whodunit for officer Farron today, nope just lot's of 'a wild gorgonospid appeared!' Damn whoever filed these... Her scowl lightened up as her phone vibrated with something interesting to read.

 _"Hey Sunshine whatcha doin'?"_

 _"Paperwork... O3O. Save me."_ Lightning sat her phone down next to the report she was reading.

 _"Wait... Was than an emoji?"_

 _"Ssh... So umm how are you doing?"_

 _"Just chilling at the workshop, fixing people's cars you know, mechanic stuff."_

 _"Ah okay."_ Lightning sat her phone down and grabbed another piece of paper. _"Sounds fun."_

 _"It's gotta be better than doing paperwork Sunshine."_

Lightning groaned in response to her comment.

Fang slid under a car on a trolley and began checking over everything, unfortunately for her, her phone was not as oil proof as she was and so was kept over by the toolbox instead.

"Aha so that's the problem, gonna need a smaller wrench though." She pulled herself out and rummaged through her toolbox. One hand drifted to her phone and she looked at it and smiled.

 _"Wait... Was than an emoji?"_ Quickly replying to Lightning's text before setting it down again and pushing herself back under. Her phone buzzed and she pulled herself out again.

"Hard at work I see?" Fang's boss, Sazh leant down and grinned, handing her the wrench she needed.

"Thanks... And yeah, I'm getting it done." She frowned and tightened the joint.

"She sounds cute." He chuckled and looked at her phone.

"Hey old man! Keep out." She grabbed the phone which he held out for her and tucked it in her pocket. "Jeez no privacy these days..."

"And now you're the one who sounds old. Hehe... So gonna spill the beans?" He grabbed a crate and sat down beside her feet.

"I guess so, umm let's see... She's cute and likes bikes. Rides a Honda but that's fine because she rides it so well. Pink hair, badass attitude and she works at the GC." Fang shrugged as best she could while under a car. Her phone vibrated and she pulled it out.

 _"Hey sorry, how's it going?"_

 _"Good, just got off... Guah still gotta do paperwork tomorrow."_

 _"Getting off early, wanna swing by?"_

 _"Sure see you soon Fang o3o."_ Fang chuckled and sat her phone down.

"Gonna see prince charming am I?" Sazh grinned and stood up. "A shame I gotta get going and make sure my sons still alive."

"Wait... Why wouldn't Dajh be alive?"

"He got his pilot license last week. Say hi for me alright kiddo?" He whistled and made his way off to his office, leaving Fang by herself to finish the repairs.

Lightning turned off her bike and looked over at the workshop. It was much more intimidating now that it was bursting to life with the sounds of machinery and mechanics.

"Well I'll be damned..." Sazh whistled as he approached her. "That's a nice piece of machinery you got there miss, nice indeed."

"Oh thanks. It's a Honda CBR 1000RR." Lightning let a smile cross her face. "Umm is Fang here?"

Sazh nodded. "Aha so you're the mystery girl. Didn't think Fang could actually pull it off. She's over in the garage, also don't worry about the guys. They couldn't hurt flowers." Sazh chuckled, slowly returning back to his office. "Hey Dajh, yeah I'm here..."

Slowly Lightning made her way over to the large open doors. A few of the mechanics looked up, most of the workers weren't as bad as she had expected however a few... A few looked more like pirates and vikings. Surely there had to be a beard limit for around here.

"Hello, I'm looking for Fang."

A bearded man turned to her. "Fang? Ah she's in the back. Just this way. Hey Sam hold your horses, I'll be back in a minute." He sat down his wrench and nodded for Lightning to follow him. A few others cleared out of the way as the viking hummed his way through the hustle and bustle, coming to a stop before a pair of legs. "Hey you got a visitor kid. You need anything just let me know."

"Thank you." Lightning chuckled and looked down. He continued humming and started walking back. "So how's it going? Hmm?" Her phone buzzed and she pulled it out.

 _"Pretty good Sunshine. Wanna hand me that wrench by my foot?"_

 _"Sure."_ Lightning grabbed it and tapped her gently with it. "Gonna come out and say hello."

"Sure am." Fang rolled out, her face and clothes blackened by oil. "Umm can I have that wrench?"

"Here..." She smiled as she leant down and handed Fang the wrench. "So umm what are you fixing?"

"Just a busted oil hose. Had to drain it first before I could change it over and umm well I spilt a little bit." Fang slid out and grabbed a cloth to began wiping off the oil of her hands. "Ah well at least that's done. Wanna grab something to eat?"

"Sure, umm are you gonna go like that?" Lightning looked at Fang in her oil stained overalls.

"Umm no... I don't think so." Fang shrugged and walked over to the locker room. "So how was your paperwork?"

"My boss let me off and told me to get some sleep." She sighed a little and looked away, blushing as Fang unzipped her jacket and began changing into her casual clothes.

"Hmm maybe I should change your nickname."

Lightning looked up and cocked her head. "Why?"

"Because your cheeks are red like the sunset."

"Shut up Fang. Now where are we going?"

Fang chuckled and stuffed her oil stained clothes in the locker. "Umm there's a cool bar down the road, maybe a few blocks."

"Mmm sounds good."

"Alright! Onwards." Fang lead the way outside, earning a few looks and whistles from some of the younger mechanics as she and Lightning passed by.

The bar Fang mentioned was a few minutes on bike away. Lightning looked at it as she pulled into the parking space. It was an opened window bar and looked quite nice. Inside was a small assortment of tables and a long varnished bar with a couple of stools. Most important was the woman behind the bar...

"Fang!"

"Lebreau!" Fang rushed over and hugged the woman. "How's today going?"

"Mm rather slow, a couple of regulars rolled through earlier and speaking of customers... Who is this cutie?"

Fang took a seat and grinned. "This is Lightning the super cute hottie biker I told you about and Lightning this is Lebreau my room mate and favourite bartender."

"Hey what about me?"

Lightning took her seat and looked over at the black haired girl that appeared. Both bartenders were pushing Fang into a corner and Lightning found that rather amusing.

"Well I uh Tifa... Breau help me here."

"Tifa have you met Lightning, Fang's girlfriend."

Fang crumpled up on the bar.

"No I haven't. Hi I'm Tifa, Lebreau's partner." She extended a hand out to the pinkette, who gladly shook it and smiled.

"I'm Lightning. It's good to know Fang has friends to hang out with. I was starting to get worried that she only had Vanille..." Lightning chuckled. "Oh can I get a rum and coke?"

"Yep. Someone has to take care of the big dope. Although we're glad you're here to do our dirty work now." Tifa grabbed a glass and began making her drink. "Here you go. So how did you two meet?"

Lightning took a sip of her drink and sat the glass down. "She was working at the mechanics when I had to get some parts for my CBR. Then by some chance Serah was dating Fang's... Vanille."

"Yep." Fang took a sip of her own drink and smiled.

"So umm yeah, Serah brought her to a cafe with Vanille and umm yeah."

"Aww that's so cute." Lebreau chuckled and leant over the counter. "So has she asked you out yet?"

"Not yet, I think she's a little shy." Lightning smirked and took another sip. "I'm hoping she's gonna do something really sweet though."

"Mmm that does sound like Fang."

"Hey!" Fang stood up and frowned. "I'm a badass biker, a rude chick who rides fast and hard and isn't afraid of anything."

"Except?" Tifa teased her and gave Lebreau a kiss on the cheek.

"Except for umm... Cats." Fang winced a little.

"Cats?" Lightning looked at her a little curious.

The door opened and a middle aged man came in with a trolley loaded with kegs. "Hello Tifa I got your order. A little late today though, sorry."

"That's alright, just out the back please." She hurried over and signed for the order.

"So Fang what's this about cats?" Lightning poked her in the sides.

"Urgh do you really wanna know?" Fang huffed and scowled at her.

Lightning scowled back. "That's my thing you have that grin of yours."

Fang shot her a grin and nodded. "Yep. So umm when I was a kid Vanille had this raggedy cat. We were watching horror movies about this monster thing that ate people and at night her cat watched me with it's eyes and scared the hell out of me. Now I'm afraid of cats."

Lightning pat Fang's head and huffed. "What am I gonna do with you..."

"Love me?" Fang winked.

"I dunno... You still haven't beat me so..."

"Aww come on it was a draw." Fang huffed and drank the rest of her rum.

Lightning did the same and with rosy cheeks she leant over and kissed Fang on the cheek. "Ok fine."

Lebreau squealed and looked at Fang who held out her glass and grinned. "I think I need some more."

 _A short while later..._

"Claire, I'm home." Serah looked around the house, it was strangely quiet except for... "Claire you went drinking didn't you?" She opened the door to the bathroom. Lightning was hunched over the toilet and vomiting. "How much did you have?"

"Mm yeah, I had the usual."

"Two glasses..." Serah stared in horror before snapping back to her cheery self. "So anything else?"

"I sorta got with Fang, I think.." She let herself smile and gulped, wincing at the taste of bile.

"Congratulations! You should take a shower though and get some sleep. I'll got make some tea for you and get you something to try and eat." Serah skipped down stairs leaving Lightning to clean up.

"Thanks Serah. Urgh this is why I don't drink..."


	6. Chapter 6: Halloween Special

Wings in the Workshop Chapter 6

 **A/N - Hey guys sorry for the late update and missing Halloween so I hope this makes up for that. These longer chapters take a little longer but I'll probably release them every seasonal holiday unless you guys want just longer chapters in general. Anyhow hope you all enjoy Halloween and have fun reading.**

"Claire can you help me carve the pumpkins?" Serah sat the bags of groceries on the kitchen table. "Claire? She's still asleep... What a potato." She huffed and went up the stairs to Lightning's room, knocking and scowling as she waited. "Claire? Wake up!"

Lightning rolled around her bed and groaned. "Hmm? Serah? What time is it?"

"Jeez. It's already lunchtime, now are you going to help me with Halloween prep?"  
"Mmm yeah, just give me a moment to wake up okay?" Lightning threw her blankets back and stretched. "So what are we doing today?" The door opened and Serah cracked a smile as Lightning appeared in her pyjamas still half asleep.

"Carvin' pumpkins sunshine!" Fang grinned as held out a pumpkin, her cheeks turning to a smile as she took in Lightning's rather adorable dog pyjamas. "Nice pj's by the way."

'Thanks... Alright I'm gonna get dressed and met you guys in the kitchen." Lightning retreated back into her room while Serah and Fang made their way down to the kitchen.

"How's Light?" Vanille laid out a set of knives and spoons for carving.

Serah huffed and sat down. "Just woke up. We probably should have just let her sleep in. She had to work until two in the morning, damn behemoths." She scowled and grabbed her cup of tea.

"It's a good thing they won't let you out there, they'd be out of work." Fang chuckled and leant up against a counter. She smiled as Lightning sleepily walked in, a T-shirt and jeans quickly thrown on.

"Morning."

"Wanna coffee Light?" Vanille flicked the switch on the kettle and turned back to her.

"Mmm..." Lightning rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Yes please. So pumpkins huh?" Lightning grabbed one of the knives, quickly getting a feel for it.

Serah plunged her knife deep into the pumpkin and grinned maniacally as she set about carving out a whole in the top.

"Serah that's not cute?" Vanille watched in horror and slid back a little from her girlfriend.

"What? I'm just carving the pumpkin." Serah stopped and looked up to Fang and Lightning who also shared Vanille's fear of the pinkette wielding a knife.

"You look like you're carving out it's soul Serah." Lightning chuckled and started on hers. Gracefully cutting out a face out that she felt was spooky enough.

"Vanille we should run..." Fang gulped and stepped back as both the Farrons smirked as they laid waste to their pumpkins.

"No way we'd never make it. Plus I don't have any phoenix downs on me..." Vanille chuckled and sat Lightning's coffee down on the table.

"Thanks Vanille. So what are you doing for your pumpkin?" Lightning left the knife embedded in the pumpkin as she took up her cup instead.

"I dunno... I was thinking of doing something adorable." She pouted and glared at her pumpkin. "Damn white alligators... Fang?"  
"Hmm oh I'm doing this." Fang held up the pumpkin with a sharp set of teeth already carved into it's face.

Lightning grabbed her knife and continued carving. "So Serah who's coming?"

"Hmm oh umm I invited Hope." Serah sat her knife down, pleased with what she had done for now.

"Ah how is he going?" Lightning moved onto carving the hole in the top of her pumpkin.

"He's got a new boyfriend... Snow I think he's name was." Serah chuckled as Lightning groaned.

"Snow, really? Hope can do a lot better than him jeez... What about that Cid Raines guy that he was seeing?"  
"Oh him, he got called away for military duty and Hope said he didn't want anything that long distance..." Serah sat next to Vanille and took a glance at her pumpkin, it was... adorable, in a way.

"Ah but Snow..."

Fang shot lightning a glance. "Anything I should know?"

Lightning looked over and shuddered. "Snow hit on me when I was training at GC and I punched him in the face... He's a big dumb gorilla."

"Claire, you're being way to harsh. They're getting along really well." Serah chuckled and gave Vanille a quick kiss. "I'm gonna go call everyone actually and make sure they're all okay to get here. Back in a bit." She hoped off the counter and sat down on the couch in the lounge room with her phone.

"Fang did you invite Sazh and Dajh?"

"Yeah I thought it'd be cool since Dajh and Jihl are both in town at the moment. It'd be nice for them to see everyone."

"Umm could you guys let me in on whose who?" Lightning furrowed her brows...

"Oh sorry. So you already know Sazh, my boss?"  
"Yep. I met him last week." Lightning nodded and took a sip of coffee.

"So Sazh has a son Dahj and he's married to Jihl Nabaat with their daughter Sophie. Then there is Lebreau who was Fang's old mechanic."

"Mechanics and racers gotta stick together know what I'm saying. We make good team you and I, always have, always will." Lebreau chuckled and slid across the floor. "Hey I came over early and waited for you guys to announce me so I could make a cool entrance for Lightning!" She smirked and sat her bag down.

"Jeez Lebreau just come in normally next time." Fang shook her head slightly disappointed... "Oh is Tifa coming around?"

"Yes... But first she has to keep the bar open for a little while. She said she would try and get here around seven, maybe eight."

"Okay umm who else is there..." Vanille sat and tried to remember the list she and Serah had composed while Lightning and Fang showed off their pumpkins to Lebreau to see whose was better... Serah won.

"You guys gonna scoop 'em out?" Lebreau began unpacking the bag of snacks and goodies she brought.

"Unfortunately." Lightning grabbed a spoon and huffed.

"Hey Light wanna know why royal pumpkin is the best?" Vanille giggled.

Lightning felt something ominous inside of her yet continued. "No why?"

"Because it's pumpking."

Lightning shook her head and chuckled. "Dammit that was bad."

Fang flicked a spoonful of pumpkin guts at Vanille and hit her in the mouth.

"Bleh... Fang, this means war you know?"  
"Yep." Fang gripped the spoon tightly and prepared to make a move for her pumpkin carefully watching Vanille as she did the same.

"So guys everyone's all good to..." Serah stopped as some flying pumpkin struck her face. She wiped it off as best she could and smiled. "Guys how are pumpkins coming along?"

Lightning looked inside hers and smiled. "It's all good here. Fang?"  
"All clear here, Vanille cleaned out yours and Lebreau?" Fang looked over to Lebreau who was spotless and drinking a beer.

"Oh I didn't want to get involved."

"We left you one Serah."Vanille handed her pumpkin over and a spoon, knowing all too well what was to come...

'Splat!'

"You know there's a lot left in here." Serah smiled and started flinging pumpkin everywhere.

"RUN!" Lightning darted for the door at an insane speed, just dodging some flying orange goo. Fang wasn't so lucky as her attempt to outmanoeuvre the pinkette ended up sending her attack down the back of her shirt. Vanille however had other plans.

"HADOUKEN!" A swift uppercut from the redhead sent the pumpkin in all directions, leaving Serah shocked.

"Jeez Vanille, what are we going to do with it now?"

"Pumpkin pie!"

Lightning came back in and frowned at the mess. "Alright well you guys should get cleaned up first. Lebreau can you help me with the pie?" She looked in amazement as Lebreau was still on the counter drinking beer and somehow managed to avoid all aftermath of Vanille's attack.

"Yep sure can." She sat her bottle down and started grabbing the bits of pumpkin that landed on the table. "Jeez Vanille... You made one hell of a mess"  
"And I thought I was scary..." Lightning chuckled and finished with a sigh as she gathered the ingredients.

"So you and Fang are serious huh?" Lebreau looked over and watched Lightning's reaction

"Uhh..." She sighed and paused for a moment, her cheeks reddened as she thought about it. "I'm not too sure but I hope so. Fang is fun to be around."

"That's good. Make sure you take good care of her okay, she may seem all cheery and carefree but she's got her fair share of problems okay?"

"Yep. I won't let you down Lebreau." Lightning mocked a salute with her flour covered hands.

"Thanks kiddo."

"How old are you anyway?"

"Jeez youngins these days are so rude... I'm twenty four if you must know. Now get kneading. I wanna see some dough." Lebreau chuckled and took a sip of her beer as she watched. "So just how old are you then Lightning?"  
"Me? Twenty..." She staggered on the words. "Six... Jeez I'm old."

"Hehe you look a lot younger than me though." Lebreau pouted and began mixing the batter.

"Mm it could be all the exercise and dieting I do for work." Lightning slid the pie base into the oven to bake.

"Hehe maybe I should join the GC." Lebreau chuckled and slid the bowl over and smiled. "It's done." She licked her hands and squinted.

Lighting watched her as she walked over to the fridge and rummaged through it. "Hey where do you keep your rum?"  
"Rum... In the pie?" Lightning tilted her head and nodded. "Right... I'll get it." She opened a cupboard and moved the instant potato powder revealing the bottle of alcohol behind it. "Here you go?" Lightning handed it off to Lebreau and watched carefully as she splashed some alcohol into the mix and handed it back.

"Don't need to taste it?"

"Nope I'm done."She sat the bowl down and looked to Lightning who nodded and grabbed some mittens to get the base out. Lightning sat it on the stove and Lebreau poured the batter in before she put it back in the over and set the timer.

"Hey guys, we're back. Oh I gave Fang some of your clothes while hers are in the wash considering you two are... tall." Serah chimed and took a seat. They still had to finish off the pumpkins and set up the lounge where they were going to have the bulk of the party at.

"Well Serah mind If I pinch Lighting and leave you with Lebreau and Fang to finish up the pumpkins."

"Sure, remember not to open any snacks just yet okay?" Serah looked over at Vanille who nodded.

"I won't, just because I stole your chocolate... Have fun." Vanille grabbed the bags of snacks and walked out into the lounge room with Lightning in tow.

"Move that to the left a little please." Vanille pointed to the couch from her position, her eyes narrowed as she envisioned the room. Lightning shifted the couch a few inches to the left. "Nice. Now the table needs to be centred."

"Right..." Lightning huffed and continued, ultimately moving things for half an hour when Vanille finally sat down and threw her legs up onto the armrest.

"Thanks Light, it looks good don't you think?"

Lightning collapsed on the sofa and nodded. "Yeah. We got a while until it starts right?"

"Yeah, got plans?" Vanille leant over intrigued.

Lightning got to her feet and wiped the sweat off of her face. "I'm going to have a shower first and then just chill out in my room for a bit." She hurried off up the stairs.

"Okay." Vanille grabbed the TV remote and flicked through the channels, nothing good however..." "Aha thanks Serah." She grabbed Serah's laptop and opened Netflix.

"What do we do now?" Serah groaned and looked around. "Vanille can I have some of your tea?"  
"Sure."

"Can you pass it to me?"

Vanille looked at her and chuckled. "Hun it's right there."

Serah looked down. "Oh, Thanks Van." She grabbed the bottle and took a mouthful.

"Alright I'm gonna go check on Tifa. See you later guys?"

"Bye. Thanks for helping out too." Serah sat the bottle down and waved.

"No problem." Lebreau waved back and closed the door.

Fang took a seat on the free chair and looked at the show on the TV... "Ah the walking dead. Shouldn't we watch this tonight?"  
"Mmm we should. So what should we watch instead?" The redhead stopped the show and turned to the others in the room. "Anime? RWBY volume 4?" Vanille looked over and gulped at the Serah who was glaring at her.

"NO!" Fang and Serah answered in unison.

"Vanille we shouldn't watch it yet. I wanna wait until the whole thing is out."

"Hey where's Lightning?"

"Huh?" Serah looked around and shrugged. "In her room I guess. Wanna go check on her?"

"Yep. How about drifters?" Fang threw herself to her feet and walked up the stairs, leaving Serah and Vanille to decide on something. Lightning's room huh? Fang's mind pictured a room with weapons and parts neatly organised around the room or something more like a workshop. She knocked on the door gently. "Lightning?" She knocked again and waited a moment before trying the handle. It clicked and the door pushed open a bit. Nothing could be heard from the shower thank god, maybe she was at her laptop with headphones or something.

Slowly Fang crept inside, careful not to make much noise. Her eyes darted to the bed where Lightning was curled up against a pillow. Her room was neat but nothing overly obsessive, really it was quite plain and decorated by a game console surprisingly, a TV, her laptop and desk and few books.  
"Aww so cute." Fang whispered to herself and stopped to take in the usually stoic pinkette looking all cute and cuddly. She reached down to her pocket and cursed herself for not bringing her phone with her before quietly retreating back out and making her way down to the lounge room. She entered with a sigh and looked to Vanille.

"She's all cuddled up."

"I know." Vanille grinned and looked down to Serah who was curled up against her.  
"Farrons..."


	7. Chapter 7

Wings in the workshop Chapter 7

A/N - Hey guys just a short one this time. So if you're wondering why updates have been slow recently it's because I got a new job, a very demanding new job which has left me without time to write so sorry about that and as usual enjoy.

Lightning looked at Serah and frowned. "What?"

"We're going to a strip club later." Serah smiled and pulled Vanille over. "Vanille and Fang are coming too."

"Serah I have work to do..."

"But you're drinking." Serah pointed to the bottle on her desk.

"It's a light beer."

"Exactly! You only drink beer when you're not serious about work. Urgh just come Claire, it'll be fine."

Lightning groaned and closed her laptop. "Fine but I'm not getting any dances."

"Nice. So Vanille are you going to drive?" Serah hurried down the stairs and made sure she had her things on the coffee table.

"Well that was easy." Vanille sat down on the couch. "So we really going to take her to a strip club?"

"Yep. She needs to get with Fang already jeez." Serah scowled and sat down beside Vanille who chuckled and who rustled hair.

"She'll get there eventually we just have to wait."

Lightning huffed and took a sip of her beer as she finished up her part of the reporting and handed the rest off to Aeris. Her ears peaked up as her phone rang. From the sound of intense battle music as the ringtone it was an emergency.

"Lightning here."

"Sector 7a. A pack of behemoths have broken through the wall."

"Yes sir. I'm on my way." Lightning pulled off her clothes and grabbed her combat gear. A few minutes and she was hurrying down the stairs.

"Hey Lighting where are you off to?" Serah hopped up and hurried over taking note of the combat gear, combat gear usually equalled with the same amount of bad as someone eating the last strawberry yoghurt.

"Sorry Serah, a pack of behemoths broke in. Take me with you and Vanille some other time okay?" Lightning smirked and chuckled a little at the idea of her actually in a strip club.

"Okay, go get them tiger."

Lightning nodded and hurried out the door. Her bag clicked into place on the back of her bike and she started it up. Sector 7a wasn't too far from where she was, hopefully people were smart enough to hide and not try to run. People moved aside as she sped past taking note of her outfit, some cheered and others just continued on with whatever they were doing.

The behemoths weren't hard to find, then again neither were the corpses of those who weren't lucky enough to be inside. She parked her bike and frowned as a familiar voice called out to her.

"Lightning!" Prompto's camera snapped a photo and he waved, followed by the others in the pretty boy squad.

Ignis adjusted his glasses and waved. "Hello Lightning."

"You're not forgetting about me are you lightning?" Gladio smirked and rested his greatsword behind him.

Lightning cast a glance of his abs and shook her head. "No of course not. How have you guys been?"

"Uhh guys wanna take care of the raging behemoths and then talk?" Noctis waved to Lightning before looking to the rest of his group.

"Ah that would definitely be the better solution." Ignis adjusted his glasses and readied his spear.

"Yeah. So Lightning you gonna stick around?" Prompto walked beside her and took a photo of her as her sword in transformation. "So cool."

"You haven't seen anything yet..." Lightning darted forth and smirked as she kept up with Noctis' warp. She swung and sent the behemoth reeling onto it's hind legs, it's roared as Noctis appeared in front of it and plunged his spear into it's chest, it disappeared in a blue light as he dropped back down.

"Good one Noct." Gladio and Ignis blindsided a behemoth which was being peppered by Prompto's gunfire.

"Behind you kid!" Lightning flew over blacked the behemoth's claws. "Dammit Noct! Move your ass!" She flipped backwards and gritted her teeth.

"Ahh, sorry!" Noct charged forward and slashed at it with his sword before he warped behind it.

Lightning clicked her fingers and time slowed down as she decimated the behemoth with army of one. "Keep focused Noctis."

"Right." Noctis nodded and looked over to his companions who were in the midst of a battle.

"Help them out. I'll go get the next one." Lightning turned and flicked the blood off of her sword...

"Jeez when they said behemoths I never thought they meant kings..."

"Well we're all still alive, that's something to be thankful for."

Noctis turned the ac in the regalia up to max and laid back. "Well at least you got some good shots right Prompto?"

"Yep. Some really good ones of Lightning too." Prompto grinned as he flicked through the images on his camera. "This one's pretty good." He held up the camera so she could see.

"Ah the uhh... Lightings nice." She shrugged, not knowing much about photography and leant up against her bike.

"Lightning!" Aeris shouted as she and a group of soldiers approached. "Sweep the area for any contacts. Radio in if you find anything."

"Yes Ma'am." The squad leader saluted and hurried off his group.

"So Lightning how'd it go with the pretty boys?"

"Mm not bad, they're getting better."Lightning walked beside her, leaving the pretty boy squad to themselves.

"Aww man, captain Aeris is so cool!" Prompto huffed and took a photo of the two girls.

Gladio shook his head and took his seat in the back of the Regalia. "Well then you should put on some muscle first."

"Nah I got my Charm."

"But those two take charm as much as a train to the face." Noctis chuckled and took the drivers seat.

"I recommend we get something to eat, something decent would be nice."

"Yeah... So the crow's nest then?"

"Urgh maybe something a bit better. Ignis could always cook right."

Ignis nodded and grinned. "Yes I could. We best hurry then before we get roped into some menial task."


	8. Chapter 8

"Night Fang." Sazh waved and proceeded to his car, leaving Fang alone in the parking lot of the Workshop. She smiled and placed a cigarette between her lips as reached down into her pocket for her lighter. "Hmm where did I put you?" A frown forming as the damned thing eluded her. Instead she pulled out her phone and noticed the message from one rather adorable pinkette. She chuckled and tucked her cigarette behind her ear and dialled the number.

"Hello Fang."

"Hey sunshine."

Silence...

"Umm Fang are you busy at the moment?" Lightning's voice wavered a little earning a short chuckle from Fang.

"Nah I just finished up at work. Why what's up? A romantic dinner maybe?"

Lightning looked over to her bike that was well being stubborn and refusing to start. "I don't know how romantic it would be but I could buy you dinner. So would you be able to pick me up please?"

"Of course and where are you?" Fang began walking over to her bike, taking in the sight of her sleek black GSX before climbing on top.

"Guardian Core Headquarters. I will be waiting outside."

"Okay see you soon Sunshine." Fang pressed the phone into her shoulder and grabbed the keys out of her pocket.

"Thank you Fang." Lightning added before hanging up.

Fang tucked her phone away after the call ended and pulled her helmet over her face as she kicked her bike into gear. Lightning's CBR was dead... Sheesh, that couldn't be good. Fang looked around as snow fell, blanketing the city white before christmas, something that never happened back in Australia, well except for maybe Melbourne. Her smile dulled as she stopped at a red light and looked down to her bike, her palm pressed softly against it. What was Lighting feeling right now? she loved her saber, hopefully it wasn't shot up or chewed by the behemoths that she had to deal with earlier that week. She could always fix the CBR for Lightning though. Surely Sazh wouldn't mind her staying for a little while after closing, especially to fix up a motorcycle, he himself had spent many nights working away at his own motorcycle. She huffed and tapped her fingers against her GSX before gripping the handlebars again.

The giant wall surrounding the guardian corps grounds dulled out as she grew closer to the gates and a certain pinkette leaning against the wall caught Fang's attention. Lighting's breath misted as she exhaled into her hands, trying to get some feeling back in them, sure she could go in the cold with a shirt and shorts on a mission if she had to, although warmth was rather nice. Fang grinned at the sight of Lightning in a jacket, t-shirt and jeans. She tilted her head and nodded to herself as Fang approached. Fang stood up and yelled, not giving any concern to the guard who looked up from his paper.

"HEY! What happened to your bike?!"

Lightning laughed and pushed herself off the wall. "It wouldn't start."

"Is it full of bullet holes or something?" Fang pulled up, gently applying the brakes and came to a stop in front of Lightning. "Nope. My work is not that exciting, usually. The whole behemoth thing was a once in a blue moon thing."

"Ah so what do you usually do?" Fang flicked the visor on helmet up and stared up into Lightning's cerulean eyes, wincing as she could see the anguish and pain in them. "Training rookies..."

"Oh... I think it'd be easier to to train Serah to cook good scrambled eggs." Fang chuckled and grabbed the spare helmet for Lightning. "Thanks and they're not that bad, I just don't like eggs."

Fang looked back and let herself relax a little, wanting to tease Lightning some more."But you ate my eggs."

"Shoosh you. Serah's a wonderful cook, at least when it comes to sweets."

"And if I want something more meaty?"

Lighting grinned proudly as she tied up her hair into a bun and pulled her helmet on. "I cook a mean behemoth steak."

"Ahh damn, I should have made you cook on our date." Fang frowned and pouted.

"Well you should ask me out again then. Now let's go, it's cold." Lightning teased and wrapped her arms around Fang's waist, sending both her and Fang into a fit of blushes.

"Umm... So how does a nice restaurant sound?"

Lightning nodded and poked Fang's back. "It sounds really nice, and warm."

"Hehe you know you're kinda cute when you're not suplexing behemoths." Fang chuckled and started up her bike again, looking back to Lightning. "I think you have me confused with Aerith."

"You mean your sweet looking partner?" Fang raised an eyebrow and flicked her visor shut as they picked up speed. Lightning's voice faltered as her mind flashed back to the several occasions where her partner decided to share such sweetness, usually with a foot the face of some overly cocky criminal eating the ground, and his own teeth. "Sweet... Sure."

Lightning sat down and looked around the restaurant Fang had chosen. It was rather small and nothing to flashy but it had a sort of homey and relaxing feel about it, like back before the war when Lightning's parent's were both still around with her and Serah.

Fang noticed the change in the woman's attitude and crooked her head a little. "Something wrong?" Lightning shook her head and smiled. "Sorry it's nothing." She looked around, attempting to avoid the look Fang was giving her and hailed a waitress who took their orders for two gorgonopsid parmigianas. Lightning looked back to Fang after the waitress left and shook her head in defeat. "Fine you win. This place reminds me of my parents is all. We used to go the beach and then eat dinner in places like this back when Mum and Dad were around."

"Ah okay. So I take it that they are umm..." Fang trembled on her words, she and Vanille were raised in a similar situation, although Vanille didn't find out until much later than when Fang had first found out. "They passed away during the war."

"I'm sorry." Fang hung her head and took a sip from her glass of water. "No it's fine. That war was stupid and everyone suffered from it. I wasn't the only one that lost someone close to me and it made me into how I am today." Lightning let a sincere smile settle on her face, her years of taking care of Serah had helped her put it at least somewhat behind her, enough at least to talk with friends about it. "Well that's good, I was worried I'd have to change your nickname again." Fang chuckled and took a sip of her drink, setting it back down before looking up at the pinkette across from her. "So Lightning umm... Do you wanna take your CBR to the workshop tomorrow? Figured best get it fixed up right away." Lightning respond with a smile and looked around the restaurant some more. "Thank you Fang." The waitress returned and sat down two glasses. "Sorry we didn't order any more drinks." Fang looked at her a little confused, she still had to ride back with Lightning after all. "On the house for miss Farron." Lightning eyed the glass remembering the events last time as she pushed the glass away from her and grabbed her water instead. "Don't want a repeat of last time?" Fang smirked and looked over to Lightning who shook her head. "All I remember is vomiting everywhere." Lightning winced and watched Fang chuckle a little. "It was rather funny to see you puff up your face." Lightning cocked her head in response. "Oh you don't remember you got drunk and tried to hold your breath longer than Tifa who was cheating."

"Jeez, that's why I don't drink." Lightning groaned and rubbed her temples earning another chuckle from Fang who looked up to their waitress and their meals. "Thank you. This looks so good."

"It does." Lightning picked up her fork and poked it a little. "Jeez these things are a pain."

Fang took a bite and grinned. "Not bad when you don't have to kill the buggers yourself, they don't taste half bad either." She took another bite and followed it with a mouthful of wine the waitress delivered earlier as she watched Lightning's prod it as if it was a landmine. "It won't explode you know sunshine."

Lightning puffed her cheeks and took a bite. "See I ate it. I just wanted to take my time. Anyway why gorgonopsid parmigiana?" Fang narrowed her eyes as she thought for a moment, licking her lips and shrugging in the end. "I really don't know. I think Vanille might have cooked it once or twice though."

"And how was it?" Lightning leaned forward and took a sip of wine, preferring to take a slower approach then the Australian. Fang chuckled and sucked her teeth. "She has more in common with Serah than I thought."

"That bad huh." Lightning and Fang both chuckled and took another bite.

"Would you prefer kangaroo?" Fang sat her fork down and noted Lightning's surprise.

"Don't you guys ride around in those though?" Lightning joked and took another bite of her parmigiana. The rest of the evening followed with small talk and little snippets about motorcycles, a continuation of their earlier debate over Honda versus Suzuki.

Fang pulled up outside of Lightning's house. "Thank you Fang, it was really nice." Lightning fought to keep the blushes on her cheeks turning any redder, Fang however chuckled as she watched Lightning's fidgeting. "No problem sunshine. Now are you going to be okay getting inside?" Lightning scowled in response and nodded. "I should be fine, I didn't fall off on my way here."

"Mm true. Alright I should head back. Goodnight." Fang grabbed her helmet but Lightning stopped her as she leant down and pressed her lips against Fang's lips in an open mouth kiss. She pulled back and panted softly with her eyes closed.

"Well that was surprising, a good surprise though." Fang chuckled and pulled Lightning into another kiss, this time gentler and less fuelled by alcohol, earning a moan or two from the pinkette who tightened her hands around Fang's jacket and pulled her closer. A moment passed and the two separated once more. "Fang..." Lightning smiled as she looked into Fang's deep emerald eyes. "Yes sunshine?" Fang responded giddily, her teeth set in a smile from ear to ear.

Lightning huffed and shook her head. "You're such a dope sometimes you know."

"And?"

"And I love you."


	9. Chapter 9: A new Place

Wings in the Workshop Chapter 9: A New Place

* * *

"Hmm... Nope." Lightning bit her lip and sighed in defeat, again. She closed the lid of her laptop and took a sip of her coffee. A knock on the door thankfully distracted her from the endless search for a new place to move into.

"Lightning." The door opened and Serah came in, collapsing on what was a tidy bed. "What are you doing all cooped up in here?"

Lightning spun around and frowned, she just made her bed... "Looking for a new place." Serah shot up to her feet. "You're leaving me?!"

"No. I'm getting my own place." Lightning fought back a chuckle and grabbed her cup again. "I want to have place for myself."  
"For Fang right?" Sitting back down Serah smiled and cupped her hands in her lap. "So why don't you take Vanille's place?" Lightning stared at her for a moment and shook her head. "Isn't that Vanille's place though?"

"Yeah but we've been talking about her moving in, it'd save her time coming over everyday. Wanna get some breakfast Claire?" Lightning stood up and nodded, groaning as she stood up and stretched her back. "Anything is better than sitting there any longer."

Lightning looked around her kitchen, a little bewildered that a certain redhead wasn't there. Serah looked over as she grabbed a pan from the cupboards and giggled. "She's working you know. Unlike someone."

"Hey." Lightning sat down and scowled at her little sister who grabbed a few things from the fridge. "I work a lot you know. So about Vanille's place, can I have a look at it?"

"Of course. Hmm she's gonna be working for a while so..." Serah hummed to herself with narrowed as eyes as she thought. "Oh... You should ask Fang. She should have keys." Serah cracked a few eggs into the pan and added some bacon.

"Oh... Yeah, so what's cooking good-looking?" Lightning rubbed her shoulder and watched Serah go to work, she was surprisingly good at cooking, at least as long as it wasn't scrambled eggs... never again.

"Your breakfast at four in the afternoon." Lighting shared several glances between Serah and the clock. "Oh wow... It's four already. Alright I'm gonna go call Fang, back in a minute." She stood up and headed over to the couch, sitting over the armrest as she grabbed her phone and dialled the number for the brunette.

"Hey Sunshine. We got your CBR to the shop, what did you do to it?"

"Umm it isn't that bad... Is it?" Lightning winced and looked over to see if Serah was burning anything.

"Not really, we do have to replace some more parts than we thought though. It'll take a few days so what were you calling about?"

"Oh umm do you have the keys to Vanille's place?" Lightning laid back and closed her eyes.

"Planning a break in? I'd be careful that is one dangerous dia you're dealing with." Fang chuckled on the other side.

"Nope, but Serah just told me that Vanille's leaving it soon so I thought I might check it out."

"Wanna check it out tonight?" Lightning thought for a moment, the rest of her day was free after all. "Sure sounds good, you might have to pick me up though." Serah placed the plate of food on the table and balled up on the armchair as she watched her sister like a hawk.

"Alright, umm... I can be there in an hour-ish, gotta finish looking over your baby."

"Alright, thank you."

"Bye Sunshine."  
"Bye." Lightning sat her phone down and looked over to Serah who looked like a hamster on coffee. "We're checking it out later."

"Yes. No naughty stuff." Serah pouted and glared at her sister who paused as she was about to take a bite of her egg. "Serah. Me do naughty stuff?"

"Yes you." Serah chuckled and flicked the tv on. "Ooh a new episode."

Lightning sat back and cast a glance over at the show and huffed. "You're still watching this show?"  
"Yes. They're just about to get to the good part."

Lightning focused on her attention on the screen as the protagonist manoeuvred a giant sword with her companion as they dispatched a group of undead monsters. "Oh wow this is the second chapter right?"  
"Yep. It only got released this week!" Serah squealed and threw her hands in the air, gasping as the protagonist cleaved three enemies in half with a single swing, quickly followed by her companion flipping over her and landing a heel kick to another.

"Have you read the books yet Lightning?" Serah looked over for a split second before looking back and sighing as the two warriors wrecked havoc. "Nope, I like how she fights though I don't know how effective would actually be." Serah nodded and rested her chin on her arms. "Mm I guess it wouldn't be effective against behemoths or something but it still cool that she can use that thing, it must weight a ton." Lightning took another bite of her food and continued watching. The two watched the film with commentary every now and then, followed by a debate about how the author deserved to be cast down into the deepest part of hell for the damn ending earning a snigger from Serah who proceeded to flick through the channels afterwards for a while until Fang knocked on the door.

"Hey Sunshine..." Fang looked a Lightning who looked grumpier than usual. " What's wrong?"

Lightning looked at her and huffed. "I watched Vanguard... Damn author... So are you ready to go?"

"Yep you however..." Fang looked at the pyjama's lightning was still wearing and grinned. "I never thought panda's could be so cute." Lightning blushed and looked down. "Serah!" The pinkette looked away and back to the tv, avoiding the glare Lightning was giving her. "Sorry Fang, I'll be back in a moment." Lightning hurried up stairs and came back down moments later in a jacket and jeans. "Come on, you finally get to ride my GSX. Thanks Serah, I'll bring her back later." Fang waved and walked outside, closely followed by Lighting who hesitated to climb on the back. She wrapped her arms around Fang and pressed herself against the woman's back. "All good back there?" Lightning took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, it's just a little weird being back here is all." Fang looked her shoulder. "Do you wanna drive?"

"No thanks, I wouldn't want to take it away from you."

Fang chuckled and watched the small blushes work they way across her cheeks. "You know, I don't mind if it's you." Lightning's face turned red and she pressed herself against Fang and gave her a playful jab in the back. "Just get driving you."

"Yes Ma'am." Fang gave her a salute before starting her bike. "Don't worry your CBR will be back in your hands soon though, so wanna tell me what actually happened to it? We've picked enough bullets out of it I'm surprised it didn't explode."

Lightning looked around as they zoomed through the city towards Vanille's place. The area they were passing through looked nearly as flash as the place Fang lived in, just where did Vanille work?

"So umm I got dispatched on a mission to apprehend a group of bank robbers and well I got caught by some machine gun fire, unfortunately they missed me and shot the CBR." Lightning narrowed her eyes and snarled, damn criminals, the least they could do is shoot straight. She had gotten them back after stopping their vehicle, by shooting the tires out and sending the incapable driver and the other wanna be robbers to a stop. "Let's just say they won't be missing any more." A chill went down Fang's back and sent her hair standing on end. "Ah okay, what did you do, do I need to call a police officer?" Lightning smiled way to happily as she gave her answer. "Broke all their fingers and maybe some other things, a few ribs I think, and maybe also a jaw. Also Fang... I am a police officer."

Fang smirked as they came up towards Vanille's apartment building. "And are you going to arrest me officer?" Lightning turned as red as a tomato and punched Fang in the back. "Gauh... Madwoman! I'm driving, if I crash we both go down." Lightning tried to hide the smirk that tugged at her lips and looked away, unable to do so. "You deserved it Fang." Fang chuckles as she pulled into the garage, parking the bike before looking back. "I'm sorry, can you kiss it better." Lightning nodded and leant over, planting a quick kiss against Fang's lips before hanging getting off the bike. "Gonna show me my new place?" Lightning extended a hand and held Fang close as they walked.

The elevator was rather short Vanille only lived on the fifth floor unlike someone... It was a similar layout to Fang's apartment however it was cast in a more earth brown colour scheme with that fake wood stuff on the floor. Fang took a seat on the couch and watched Lightning as she looked around. "Is there anyone else living here?" Lightning looked over to Fang who was resting her hands on the back of the couch and watching her. "Nope, well other than me, nope." Lightning opened the fridge and grabbed out two beers. "So what are you going to do with your place?" Lightning sat down beside her and took a sip. of her drink.

"Well probably sell it. Lebreau will probably move in with Tifa anyway. I'll let her know once you've decided. If it's okay with you having me around that is?" Fang looked at Lightning and bit her lip, her fingers curling around her beer, it was kinda cute when how she showed she was nervous. "Of course. I've lived with Serah and Vanille for months now. At least I get to do the kissing now." Fang chuckled and relaxed. "You mean face eating?" Lightning nodded and looked Fang a little more now, unintentionally staring too much. "What's up Sunshine?" Fang leant over, bringing herself close to Lightning's face. "Thinking about doing some face eating are we?"

Lightning snarled and looked away. "Nope, just thinking how you look silly with your smile." Fang shifted a little and frowned. "You don't like my smile?" She did her best puppy dog eyes, earning a chuckle from the pinkette. "I love your smile." Lightning pulled Fang close and kissed her again, this time gently pulling on Fang's lips, earning a moan from the tanned woman. "You know Vanille has a really, really comfy bed." Lightning rolled her eyes and let herself grin a little. "Does she now?"

* * *

A/N - Hello Everyone and I would firstly like to say Happy new year! I feel like doing these more for some reason, that could be my new years resolution... Anyway important news would be that if you haven't already the first chapter of RWBY RWBY Blitz just got reposted and it is brand new and completely rewritten from scratch and better than the original, so please go and read it and let me know what you think, and of course the same here would be nice. Please Enjoy and review. Thank you!


	10. Chapter 10: Moving in

Wings in the workshop chapter 10

* * *

"Hey Fang can you help me carry this?" Lightning looked over to Fang who was relaxing in her chair and sipping away at a glass of lemonade.

"But you look good covered in sweat." Fang smirked as the pinkette glared at her. "Alright sunshine. What do you need me to help with." Fang walked over beside her.

"Just this stuff." Lightning huffed and gave her the heaviest box she could find, watching as Fang winced a bit under the weight, damn lazy potato. "We're nearly done. It's good Vanille said she could give up a hand. Imagine carrying all this..." Fang shrivelled at the idea, it was at least a good ten minutes by bike.

"You know we could always get a mover..." Fang glanced over to Lightning and let herself smirk a little. She really didn't look too bad covered in sweat.  
"Fang, you're staring." Lightning huffed and shook her head. "How about we get this done and then we can have a shower."

Fang groaned and put the box in the back of the car and bit her lip. "I guess I better move it then... or we could have that shower now." She winced as Lightning punched her playfully in the arm. "Fang calm your hormones."

She folded over and nodded. "Yes ma'am."

Lightning leant over and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "We have to get stuff done."

Fang nodded and chuckled. "Alright. So how does it feel to leave this place?" Fang walked beside Lightning back into the house.  
"Really weird, I've been living here with Serah for like forever. Ah well, now I don't have to worry about face eating."

"At least until the zombie apocalypse." Fang leant down and grabbed one of the boxes of books and looked at Lightning who picked up another. "You have a lot of books you know."

"Yep." Lightning followed her down back to the car. "I haven't read them all though, most of them are boring stuff anyway. So Fang what do you do in your spare time?"

Fang looked at her for a moment and stifled a laugh. "Lightning... I do bike stuff..."

"Just bike stuff?" Lightning hurried over to the fridge and procured two bottles of water for them.

"Mhm." Fang took a mouthful and stretched out on the couch. "Just bike stuff for me. So Vanille are you ready to go?" She looked over to the redhead who was asleep next to Serah. "Aww I guess we should let her sleep huh?"

"Yeah she was up all night working on her project so she could get today off."

Lightning nodded and gestured towards the stairs, Fang followed her and they both crept back up stairs. "You know she's really cute when she's not bouncing off the walls."

"She might not let it show but she's actually quite a worrywart." Fang plopped down on Lightning's bed and sighed, watching Lightning plop down across from her. "Jeez this room is so... clean."

"Mhm... It's easy to find things. I'm guessing you're a disaster?" Lightning rolled her eyes as Fang rolled around a bit, messing up the blankets. A smirk crossed her face her hands wrapped around the pillow and... "Hiyaa!"

Lightning groaned as she got a mouthful of pillow before it fell into her lap, revealing a smile that tugged at the edges of her lips. "Fang..."

"Yes Sunshine." Fang looked at her and moved back a little, damn the door was behind the pinkette.

Lightning grabbed the pillow and slowly approached her. "Woah calm down please, I was joking I was... Urgh." Lightning pushed the pillow over Fang's face. "You're killing me."

Lightning lifted the pillow off and leant down again and sat on her. "Sorry."

"Hey..." Fang shifted a little and whispered in Lightning's ear. "You're fat." She grabbed lightning's hand before she could strike with the pillow again, throwing her into a tumble on the bed. "So, regret your decision sunshine?" Fang grinned, pinning her arms down with her knees.

Lightning scowled as hard as she could, earning another short chuckle from Fang. "Fang... We have to move stuff dammit!" She struggled a little more and groaned. Fang laid down on Lightning's shoulder and cuddled against her, surprisingly Lightning didn't throw her to the floor, instead she let her hand rest on her back. Lightning turned her head so she could see her Fang, all snuggled up with a smile. "Hey you all good there?"

"Mhmm." Fang nodded and nuzzled against Lightning's chest.

"But the packing..." Lightning bit her lip and poked Fang a little, earning a short giggle from the brunette. "We've got all day sunshine."

Lightning sighed as she got comfortable and watched the brunette beside her drool a little. Jeez Fang... Lightning sighed somewhat half heartedly and snuggled up to Fang, might as well get comfortable.

"Damn behemoth..." Fang tossed around in her sleep, a frown on her face as she punched the air. "Take this!" She turned and punched Lightning in the mouth and sent the pinkette crashing down on the floor. Lightning looked to Fang who awoke from the bang and looked down in horror at Lightning who had blood in her mouth.

"Shit! Lightning I'm so sorry." Fang leant over the edge, biting her lip as she winced a bit.

What surprised her was when Lightning laughed and laid back onto the floor. "Geez you punch like a girl."

Fang huffed and let a chuckle out before looking at Lightning. "I am a girl Sunshine." She hopped down and sat on top of Lightning. "And in case you forgot, I'm pretty sure you're a girl too."

"But you're girly... er." Lightning poked her stomach and laid on her hands. "So... whatcha doing?"

"Sitting on your stomach bub and punching you in the mouth." She leant down planted small kisses along her neck.

"Fang! This is a T-rated fanfiction..." Lightning scowled and bit her lip as Fang's lips trailed over her collarbone and to the top of her shirt.

"But your smexy..." She smiled and made her way up to her the bottom of chin. "Hey what time is it?"

"Dunno, phone's in my pants." Lightning looked around, a little upset the tanned woman stopped her assault to look for her jeans.

"Got it. It is..." She fumbled around with the phone before finding the power button. "It's five in the afternoon." Fang sighed and tapped Lightning's stomach. "We should go wake Vanille up." Fang stood up and helped Lightning to her feet.

"Right."

Vanille giggled as she pushed her feet against Serah's in an attempt to overpower her while each holding a hot cup of tea. She looked over for a moment at the duo coming down the stairs and Serah took the opportunity to send Vanille's cup flying towards her. Vanille threw her head down and just managed to catch the cup with her bottom lip, taking in a mouthful of the hot liquid. She winced and blew to cool it down. "It's sho hawt..."

"Muahahha. Oh hey Claire, you ready to go?"

Lightning looked away, a little ashamed that she had fallen asleep instead of getting it the rest of the packing done done. "Yeah, sorry for falling asleep."

"No problem we weren't too awake eith... What happened to your lip?"

"Oh Fang punched me in her sleep." Lightning shrugged and wiped the little bit of blood from her lip.

"I said I was sorry." Fang frowned and wrapped her arms around Lightning's waist, resting her head on her shoulder.

Vanille nodded and grabbed her keys from the table. "Alright well all your stuff is loaded, lazy butts. See you soon bub." She leant over and gave Serah a quick kiss before heading out to her car. Lightning sat in the front beside Vanille who hummed as she turned the car on. "So have you filled out all the paper work?"

"Mm I sent it off last night. So anything else I should know?" Lightning looked rather unsettled by the smile that inched larger and larger by the second.

"Where to start..."

Lightning breathed heavily and wiped the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead and threatened to run down to her eyes. She cast her eyes over the dozen or so boxes and sighed. When did she get so much junk? In her thought's she failed to notice Fang sitting beside her with two beers.

"Hey Sunshine, you okay?"

Lightning looked over and flashed a smile. "I am good, thanks to a certain someone."

"Mm." Fang nodded and handed the pinkette her drink. "It was really cool of Vanille to set you up with this place." She huffed and took a mouthful of her beer.

Lightning did the same and sat her beer on the counter. "Yes, I do have to thank her, however I had someone else in mind." Lightning rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Fang... Can you stay over tonight?" She looked away a little, the faintest blushes forming on her cheeks.  
"Of course Claire." Fang leant over and pressed her lips against Lightning's eyebrow, Lightning slowed her breathing as she took in her name with the Australian's accent, it was nice. It had an entirely different feel than when Serah called her by her name.

"Alright, come snuggle with me." Lightning stood up and tugged on Fang's hand, earning a chuckle from Fang. "But the doors are still unlocked and your stuff is still unpacked."

Lightning groaned and pouted earning a grin from Fang who stood up and ran her hands around Lightning's waist and to the small of her back. "How about I lock the doors and then we snuggle okay?"

Her response was nearly cute enough to send Fang into a meltdown, damn she was adorable when she was tired. Fang huffed and clicked the door shut before heading back to the clingy pinkette who took her hand and led her to the bedroom.

Lightning crawled under the covers, swiftly followed by Fang who stopped and sighed. "Crap, Vanille drinks mid strength..."

"Fang... I'm not drunk." She wrapped her arms around Fang.

"No but you're so damn cute."

"Thank you Fang."


	11. Chapter 11: A day at work

Wings in the Workshop Chapter 11

"Lightning come on. We're gonna miss them." Aerith waved around her gun, making Lightning flinch a little. She breathed out and relaxed when Aerith put her gun away and hurried as she tightened the straps on her bulletproof vest and checked over her gear. Gun, check. Armour, check. Gunblade, check. Crazy somewhat mentally questionable partner all excited to catch some bad guys, unfortunately and actually quite surprisingly still alive. Like damn that woman took a shotgun to the face and still kept going. Aerith the terminator was more fitting.

"Aerith the bank robbers aren't going anywhere. Plus where are the damn pretty boys?" She walked over to the elevator with Aerith and pressed the button for the parking level.

"Oh you mean Noctis and the guys? They were sent out to help train some soldiers in one of the outlying towns. Apparently there's been an increase in wildlife attacks recently. But..." Aerith wore a smile from to ear to ear that in any other conversation would be rather pleasant, maybe it was, Lightning however wasn't the best at emotions even after working with Aerith for the past few years. "We're going after the masked tuxedos you know." Lightning tensed up and audibly gulped. "I know right, imagine if we catch them. We'd get photos maybe even a little trophy for my desk." She cackled and cocked her gun.

"Why didn't you damn say so... Jeez." Lightning checked her pocket for keys. As she pulled them out, Aerith shot over and shook her head. "I'll drive."

"Aerith... I spent more time vomiting than I did actually arresting people the last time you drove." Lightning looked away, a little ashamed that she had actually vomited, quite a bit too.

"You'll be fine Lightning. I'll be gentler this time okay."

Lightning nodded and followed the woman to her car, she'd just have to try her best and not puke inside this time. Aerith looked over as she climbed into the silver and black trans am, painted to try to make the large armour plates on the side look less ridiculous. "Lightning I promise I won't drive as wild as last time."

"Alright." She sucked her teeth and climbed in the passenger seat.

Aerith chuckled and closed her door, securing the five point harness, which Lightning scowled at as it had significantly lessened the time she had to get out before she upped her breakfast.

The engine started with a low roar and Lightning's hand crept to the handles in the door. Much to Lightning's surprise Aerith took it slow, flashing Lightning a proud grin as they exited the garage. That's when the grin faded and Aerith took on a serious look. One Lightning had only seen twice. Once when Lightning had taken a bullet to the chest, even though she had a vest on and the other when she was driving seriously.

Automatic gunfire pinned the two dozen officers behind their cars and shields while a group of masked robbers all wearing tuxedos over bulletproof vests cleared out the bank.

"You'd think that these coppers would put up more of a challenge." Red mask pulled back the bolt of his rifle and took aim at the exposed leg of a police officer. With a flash and a spray of blood the officer fell to the ground, wincing as he looked at the mess that was his ankle just seconds ago. Biting back the urge to gag he pulled himself back towards his partner who looked around for a paramedic.

"See that Blue! The bacon fell." Red gave his partner a thumbs up, quite literally.

Lightning exhaled, having fired back at the sniper and she thought she got him too.

"Get in! We're busting the bank! " Aerith pushed the steel plate over the door window and Lightning scrambled to get back in and do the same.

"Aerith that's a building... Aerith... A building!" Lightning looked to her partner who flicked up a gear and pushed the accelerator to the floor. "AERITH A BUILDING! CARS AND BUILDINGS DON'T MIX!" Lightning fastened the harness as quickly as she could and held on for dear life, maybe even prayed to Etro a little. The brunette smiled and gripped the wheel aiming for the windows.

Silver and Green opened fire with their assault rifles. "Umm boss, they're coming in." Silver moved out of the way and looked in the direction of the tuxedo's leader.

"SHOOT THEM DAMMIT!"

"We are. They're driving in I mean. It's some kinda car."

A much more built man wearing a mask that sat above his thick beard and a tuxedo that threatened to explode at any second burst out with an LMG in one hand, a cigar in the other, gritting his teeth as he spotted the familiar officers in the front. "Kill them, NOW!" He added to the barrage of gunfire.

Lightning and Aerith both ducked as the bullets ripped through the car. The wall exploded as they hit it and rolled across the lobby several times before sliding into the wall on the other side.

"Aerith, are we still alive?" Lightning huffed and pulled herself up, looking around through the dust and debris. She looked over what was a windshield at the silhouettes amassing in the room. "Reverse!"

Aerith kicked the car into gear and floored it as more gunfire and smoke filled the room.

"It's hard to reverse in here dammit." She looked over her seat and watched as they smashed through the walls inside. "Shoot someone!"

"I am." Lighting opened the door and leaned out, returning fire on the masks.

"Get to cover." Silver dived to the floor as bullets sent a bell flying with a loud 'ding'.

The Boss stood out in the opened and fired on the duo until the car disappeared from view. "Everyone keep the front secure. Silver, Purple and Orange find them and kill them."

"Roger." Silver moved towards the doorway where the two had disappeared through with her rifle at eye level. "Damn they're gone. Orange get me info from the others. Purple go check on the vault team." Silver sat her rifle down on a counter and took a mouthful of water. The boss came over and smiled as he took in her similar tanned features and dark hair that fell down from the dull silver mask that covered her face and hence her name. "You okay Silver?" He took off his mask and smiled, a scar running across his nose.

"Mm... It wasn't supposed to go like this. If we don't succeed then mum will..."

The boss leaned over and ran his hand through her hair. "It'll be fine, hun." He leaned closer and kissed the forehead of her mask. "We'll get through this."

"Okay." She nodded to herself and frowned. "Put your mask back on. I'm gonna go find those two." She picked up her gun and hurried off towards down the corridor where Lightning and Aerith disappeared through.

"So what's the plan now that we've got ourselves in?" Lightning looked to Aerith who shrugged and gave her best 'I dunno look.'

"I thought we'd just shoot everyone." Aerith huffed at the look Lightning was giving her. "I got us in. The car's still working."

Lightning nodded in agreement. She did have to give it to the woman, this wasn't the first time a crazy plan of hers had worked out somehow. "Alright we'll sweep the building room by room and try to secure the vault."

Silver turned her head to the echoes of the gunfire, towards the south side of the building. She crouched down and grabbed the radio from her belt.

"Red how's it going out the front?"

"Good, they're trying to move up but we're keeping them in check. Need some backup Silver?"

"Nah just keep the front under control, thanks."

Silver put the radio back into place and looked around, the lack of gunfire was rather unsettling, if these two got the boss all worked up then it was obvious who was dead. She inhaled for a moment, calming her nerves. In a hushed whisper she spoke as she started to move again.

"Alright Silver you've done this a million times. Remember the job in Vegas, that was a cinch. So what if they're lady cops, you're a lady robber Silver." She let out a heavy breath and looked around before moving still somewhat hunched over. From the looks of it, she was nearing the vault which meant they were going for the money, dammit. She broke into a light jog, her eyes darting from corner to corner.

Gunfire broke out and from what she could hear it was maybe a room or two away. She hurried over to Bronze mask who was leaning against a wall, a dozen or so red spots across his chest where bullets had gone through his vest, feeling a lack of a pulse, she cursed and moved up to the doorway. Leaning over just peer into the room she was the two, behind a good piece of cover and laying an onslaught on some of the masks in the vault. She narrowed her eyes and shouldered her gun as she pointed the business end unsuspectingly at the two. With a burst of noise bullets tore through the room, sending papers and other supplies scattering about.

"Dammit. Lightning, there's so freaking many of these guys." Aerith complained as she took a shoot at another one of the masks, catching them in the arm and sending them cowering behind a steel table.

Lightning turned around fired back at Silver, where they were, it'd be a problem if someone got the flank on them right now.

"Aerith cover me." Lightning sprinted across the room and slid behind the overturned table the masks were using for cover and unloading her gun into them. giving them some breathing room. Aerith turned and focused her shotgun to the door, ignoring her partner's expression as she moved up beside her. "Silver... gonna get shot again?"

"No... Dammit Lightning. You actually going to catch us this time either." Silver cackled maniacally as inched towards the door. She edged around the door and emptied her magazine into the room. Darting back as a slug of buckshot sent wood shards towards her face. She threw her hand up to covered her eyes and threw herself back behind the wall. Silver winced as she picked some shards out of her hand and positioned her gun between her legs, reaching down for another magazine with her remaining hand.

"So Silver still sure you're not gonna get shot." Aerith pumped her gun and grinned.

It fell to the ground with a thud and she drew her pistol and aimed towards the door.

"Wanna use a grenade?" Lightning picked up a rock that was roughly the same size as the real thing and held it in her hand.

"Don't see why not, better than being shot by that damned rifle." Aerith sat her shotgun down on the counter they'd been using as cover and drew her handgun, taking aim. The rock rolled with a thud as it came to a stop beside the wall Silver was hiding behind.

"Aww Crap." Silver darted for the entrance. Aerith's gun went off and the bullet going through her leg, she collapsed and looked back. Lightning chuckled and tossed a rock beside Silver.

She kicked the rifle away and yanked the handgun from her before she could use it. "Careful for the grenades Silver." She pushed Silver down and cuffed her.

"You're making an arrest? Like here? I guess it's better than shooting her." Aerith shook her head and moved to the end of the hallway, keeping a lookout around the next room in case anyone else decided to join them. "It looks pretty clear."

Lightning tightened the cuffs and gave Silver a quick pat down for any hidden weapons. She gave Aerith a thumbs up and hurried over.

"So where are we headed now? Main lobby?"

Lightning nodded and checked her gear now that it was quiet again. "If we can clear the main lobby we might be able to get troops in, or then again the roof might be a good bet too."

"Hmm.." Aerith paused for a moment. "We could get to the roof without going through the main lobby, means less bad guys for us but also means reinforcements. A lot safer then going in alone."

"Yeah shame this isn't some action movie or something." Lighting and Aerith looked around one last time before nodding to each other and making their behind some of the large pillars that populated the side room, looked like a documents area or something considering the dozen or so desks neatly filled around the room. The next room was a smaller corridor with bathrooms down one end and the other leading out to the main hall.

"Oh. Lightning we might have to go through the main hall."

With a sigh she rubbed her temples and looked to her partner. "One moment." She hurried back and grabbed Silver's rifle, a FAMAS F1.

"Wait." Silver squirmed and looked up at Lightning. "Give that back, please."

Lightning looked at Silver for a moment, she wasn't yelling at her which was surprising considering that well Aerith did just shoot her in the leg. Yet her eyes caught onto something, an etching 'To my sweet Maria. Love M.' Lightning knelt down and looked at the woman's ankle. "I should probably bandage that huh."

Aerith hurried back to the sight of Lightning wrapping Silver's ankle in a bandage. "Oh. Can't have her bleed out."

Lightning nodded. "Wouldn't be too good. I'll be there in a sec."

"Okie dokie." She hurried back to the hallway, not wanting to take her attention away from what could potentially be the nest of the masks.

"So Silver, or should I call you Maria?" She tightened the bandage and turned back to face the emotionless mask that hid the girls expression.

"Silver, my mask is on. M stands for mum, if you were going to ask."

Lightning nodded. "Ah, explains why. This gun is super old right? Super umm defunct..." She checked the magazine and nodded to herself, still a little unsure of how the thing actually fired, it was in god like condition though.

"Why don't you just shoot me already." Silver snarled, somewhat less intimidating considering that her mask was still on. Her eyes widened however as Lightning pursed her lips and pressed the barrel against the mask.

"You want me to?"

Silver winced and shook her head. "No... Just go... Stop annoying me already."

"Hold it rookie."

"I'm no rookie, I'm a ten-year vet."

Lightning smiled a little and stood up. "I'll bring your gun back to you Maria. Just don't do anything stupid or Aerith won't aim for your ankle." She grabbed the remaining two magazines and shoved them in her pocket before running back out to Aerith.

"How are we looking?"

Aerith looked over for a split second before focusing her attention back into the room. "Good. I think we have guys coming though, guess they're looking for their friends.' Aerith moved back and steadied her right arm with her left.

The two masks who ran in stood no chance. Aerith unloaded a bullet in the first masks skull and then the other was caught with his arm and the door as Lightning kicked it shut and shot through the door.

"Well that's two down." Aerith holstered her gun and slowly proceeded out into the next room. Lightning followed behind her as quietly as she could. "Just a dozen to go. Think they heard the..." Aerith moved just in time as a bullet ripped past her, the buckshot from her shotgun sending the Orange masked villain into the wall and smearing a blood trail to the floor. "Well that scared the crap out of me. You all good?" She looked to Lightning who was huffed and nodded.

Lightning's radio buzzed and she grabbed it and responded. "Officer Farron here."

"Officer Farron, Sargent Douherty is requesting information on the situation."

"Yes sir. We encountered the criminals and have eliminated six so far. Total enemy count still remains unknown sir."

"Roger. New orders are to eliminate sniper support so reinforcements can enter the building and finish this crap. Also gimme a minute to do my speech and all that shit, know what I'm saying?"

"Yes sir." She looked to Aerith and groaned. "We better get a damn raise for this. Douherty's doing another speech."

Aerith nodded and shook her head.

Douherty took off his cap and ran one hand through his afro, the other extending out to an older officer holding a megaphone. "Gimme that microphone if you would brother." The cop nodded and handed it over, having worked with Douherty for several years he just shrugged and rested a cigarette in his mouth, this fight was long other for him.

"Alright, testing testing. You ballerina's in there hearing me alright? Lemme know alright." A bullet whizzed past and punched a hole through one of the cop cars. "Aight." He chuckled as he shook his head and grinned. "You know you guys better check that, he's prolly bleeding all over the place. Anyways we got a dozen guys surrounding the building and you know we got a bunch of peeps in there about to shoot your dumbass. So here's the deal baby, come out with your hands up and we won't shoot you all." He turned off the megaphone off and handed back to the other officer. "Aight let's send in the shields and end this crap." The other man rubbed his thick moustache and nodded. "It's Sophie's birthday today right?"

"Yeah. I was gonna listen to her stories today."

A group of officers bearing shields moved up to the front line of cars and began approaching slowly, looking out for shooters as the masks inside opened fire.

Aerith looked to Lightning once more and nodded. She reached out and opened the door. . From what she could see there were two groups in the lobby. One group near the entrance, keeping the police at bay while the other were up on the second floor, including the sniper Lightning took shot at earlier.

"Ready partner..?" Aerith checked her magazine and slid back into her pistol before shooting Lightning an excited glance. "Just don't get shot again."

Lightning rolled her eyes and nodded.

In a flash Aerith pushed the door open and moved over to a decorative stone wall which would have been beautiful if not for the taking notice of the two policemen moving into cover.

The boss hurried into cover and began screaming orders at the others, trying to keep them in formation.

"Lightning. What a pleasure." The boss leant out and fired, ripping apart the wall a little more.

Lightning huffed and looked over to Aerith who made her way down to the other end. "It's all yours." Lightning counted to three in her mind. As the number ran off her tongue Aerith opened fire and drew their attention for a split of a second, and that was all she needed. In a fashion true to her name she cleared the wall and threw her knife at the tuxedo who aimed at her, catching him in the chest. Her hangun went off and cleared another that was in her road. Her target was of course the snake charmer who commanded the damned serpents.

Aerith moved behind her covering her, catching the odd tuxedo that was missed as she left a trail of bodies behind her. She rolled and grabbed her knife, leaping high into the air. With a smirk she plunged down and jabbed her knife just inches from the boss's face. He pressed his rifle against her and used the advantage of his size to throw her away from him. She rolled and darted out of the path of the gunfire and charged again, this time she threw her gun at close range and directed her knife towards his fingers, it caught it in the guard and pushed between the bone. With a snarl he drew his gun only and aimed at Lightning who was trapped, only to stop as Aerith slid across the table and pressed her pistol against the back of his mask.

"Gotcha!" Aerith grinned and gently tugged on the trigger, the hammer drawing back. "Drop it buddy."

The boss closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. With a loud thunk his gun fell to the floor. "Where's Silver?"

Lightning sighed and gave him as much of a reassuring smile. "She's safe. I shot her through the leg and bandaged it."

With a nod the boss took off his mask, his tanned and scared face fell into a somewhat happy expression. "We had a reason you know." Lightning tightened the handcuffs around his wrists and patted him down for anything hidden. "Left side around the back." He turned his waist towards Lightning who drew out the gun, the really big gun and tossed it to the ground.

"You know the size of a gun isn't important when shooting people you know."

The boss chuckled as he walked beside her. "I know. It's a guy thing."

Aerith walked a few steps behind them, keeping an eye on the gargantuan mass that was the boss.

"So hows Lucy?" Lightning looked over with the hints of a smile tugging at her lips.

The boss's face fell a little and he looked down at her. "She's... We robbed a bank Lightning."

"Ah so that's why?"

"Yeah. The operation would have cost a lot. Which we couldn't afford with our income so Silver and I decided to... Anyway how are you going?"

Lightning shook her head and scowled at him. "Idiot. What are you going to do now. You and Silver are both going to Jail you know. You're just running away from Lucy."

"No Lightning, you still haven't changed. We're just the distraction by the way." He chuckled and followed an officer into the truck.

Lightning stood somewhat puzzled. 'A distraction for what?' Lost in thought she failed to notice Aerith hurry up beside her. "Hey wanna go..."

"Silver." Lightning mumbled to herself and glared over to the boss who was grinning from ear to ear. He gave her a wink before being led into a truck by several police officers.

Lightning paused for a moment, her mind racing over everything. She glared over to the vault and tightened her grip on her pistol. "Crap." Lightning pushed Aerith out of the way and darted towards the vault. "Out of the way." She hurried across the room with Aerith hot on her heels.

"What's going on?" Aerith hurried beside her and looked around the room, it was empty except for a few officers who were securing the area. Lightning holstered her gu and hurried over to one of the officers in the vault. "Hey did you see a girl, silver mask."

"No ma'am. Just the ones over there." He pointed to the body bags with the tuxedo's vault team.

Lightning frowned and looked around, where the hell was she. With her leg it would be nearly impossible to slip out passed all the officers surrounding the building. "Silver... She's somewhere."

"Jeez should have shot her in both legs I guess.." Aerith shrugged and looked around. "Hey Lightning did you do history?"

The pinkette looked at her partner and shook her head. "Nope I was a chemistry kid."

Aerith grinned, it wasn't often she got to outsmart Lightning. "Well back during the war they built massive air raid bunkers under the city. They had entrances all over the city all though most are closed off, this one however..." She crouched down and grunted as she shifted the tile covering a tunnel.

"Nice. You ain't getting away this time kid." Aerith grinned and looked to Lightning who nodded and looked down the tunnel. She let out a whistle as she stared down. "You first."

Lightning nodded and stopped as her phone went off, a text from Fang.

'Urgh work sucks today.'

Lightning smirked and quickly replied to the brunette's message. 'Ah... What happened?'

* * *

Fang looked at the car before her and furrowed her brows somewhat vexed, something like this should have been a piece of cake yet it still wouldn't start, she tried everything except for... "Draining the tank huh... God dammit if this works..." She pushed the pump over beside it and slotted the siphon into the tank. Her face deteriorated when she was what came out. "... Why?.. Why!" Fang groaned and filled the contained with diesel before sealing it and glaring at everything around her. She mumbled as she went to grab the right fuel for it. "Diesel in an unleaded car..."

* * *

 **A/N - Hey guys sorry for the super long wait for this chapter and that has something to do with this weeks author note. So my time has now been sold to working all day everyday to pay bills and sustain myself until I become Old snake and crawl through a microwave... But yeah unfortunately this takes nearly all time leaving me with barely any to write so updates will be a lot more scarce and for that I am sorry.  
Onto something more positive. This chapter was a pain to write, I just don't do action very well however it was good once all was done to compare a bad day for Lightning and Fang. I might do some more shorter chapters though just so they can get out in a reasonable time frame. Well I dunno, anyway thanks for reading and hope to see you next chapter**


	12. Chapter 12

Wings in the Workshop Chapter 12

Lightning hummed as she closed the door behind her and stepped into her apartment. It had been three weeks since she had moved out of her old place and it had been rather fun actually. The lack of surprise face eating and the peace and quiet all around the apartment were both nice. As well as the near daily visits of a certain someone who was currently curled up on the couch with a book clutched to her chest.

Lightning took her jacket off, placing on the bench before turning the kettle on.

"Cukes?" Lightning raised a brow in curiosity and peered over at the book. "What?" Sitting her cup down on the table, she looked over at the book some more, taking in the picture on the front. "Oh sea cucumbers... Weird."  
Fang grinned and shifted a little. "They have cukes! Light, can I touch 'em?"

Lightning stifled a laugh and quietly grabbed her jacket on the way to her bedroom, as to not wake the brunette and probably get hit in the mouth again.

She stripped out of her uniform and tossed it on the floor beside the bed Vanille had left her. laying down she let out a sigh as she sunk down into the sheets. Actually now that she thought about it most of the furniture in her apartment was the redhead's. Sure Lightning had brought her sheets, blankets, towel's and other junk but the furniture was all left here by the redhead. Grabbing her laptop from her bag she scowled a little as she didn't bring her desk with her, although... She groaned outwardly at the thought of somehow cramming that into Vanille's car. "Nope." Shaking off the thought she checked her emails and pushed her hand through her hair as she stood up and grabbed her towel.

The light flickered and buzzed to life as Lightning hung up her towel and turned the shower on.

"Oh my tea." She bolted back out and grabbed her cup and inhaled the liquid inside, cursing and wincing as it burnt her mouth. With an audible gulp she forced it down and cried a little.

She lumbered over to the bathroom, more deflated and burnt then before.

"I wish I had bath..." She rolled her shoulders and let the warm water run down her back. "Ah that feels good." Slowly she leant back and let the water run over her face. Her soaking wet hair stuck to her face until she brushed it back and she hurried to lather herself in soap and just soak in the feeling of warm water against her skin.

Nearly an hour passed before she stepped out and dried herself down with a towel, wrapping her chest with one and her hair in another.

Fang peered over the couch and grinned at the sight of the pinkette in a towel for a moment before looking away in a yawn before she rubbed her still asleep face.

"Hey."

"Ah you're awake Fang." Lightning looked at her, her cheeks turning a little pink under the Australians unintentional staring "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmm." Fang nodded and yawned again and sat up a little as Lightning came closer and sat on the couch beside her. "Wanna go to an aquarium?"

Lightning laughed and nodded. "Yes, I would love to. How was work?"

"Probably better than yours, find that kid yet?" Fang looked at Lightning, she'd told her about it afterwards over a light beer as Fang looked over the pinkette's scrapes and cuts to the annoyance of Lightning who repeatedly told her it was nothing.

"Nope. She disappeared alright, so we've handed it over to someone else. Means no more late nights for me." Lightning shifted a little and looked down at her legs and away from Fang whose eyes were caught on the skin that the towels just didn't cover. "Fang..."

Fang chuckled and shook herself free. "Sorry you're just too gosh darn adorable, plus being nearly naked ain't helping too much." Shrugged unsure of how to further explain her current predicament which was Lightning being barely covered by a towel. "Oh what are we gonna have for dinner?"

Lightning tilted her head a little. "Nothing in the fridge?"  
"Nope." Fang remained seated while Lightning walked over and double checked. "Wanna get take out?" Fang laid down and chose to stare at the ceiling for a while, a much safer option than looking around at least.

"Like Chinese or something?" Lightning leaned against the couch and looked down at Fang who frowned as the pinkette came back into view.

"Yeah something like that. Wanna get dressed or something before I end up having you for take out?"

Lightning's cheeks flared up at the brunette's crude flirting and just shook her head. "Yep. I'll leave the ordering to you."  
"Yep. Phone, where dd I leave you...'' Fang shot her a smile before looking around for her cell, she swore she had it when she came in... Wait, did she..?

Lightning watched her somewhat concerned... Jeez she was really unorganised, maybe it was better when Vanille was around to keep her in check, although now it seemed that the task feel to her.

Lightning came back out in a grey hoodie and a pair of black shorts that sat around the knees. Her outfit was enough to earn a look from Fang who winked and returned her attention to the person on the other side of the phone. It seemed like she was in the midst of their order at least from the small snippets Lightning picked up as she sat down again.  
A minute passed of Fang placing the order before she sat the phone down on the table beside the ashtray and pack of cigarettes.

"You smoke?" Lightning looked at the packet, Fang definitely didn't seem like the person who would smoke, then again she couldn't talk, having taken up an officers offer of a cigarette after something gruesome. Hey, it was good to get the smell of death of you system and it was likely that something else would get her before the cigarettes did.

"Yeah a little. I'll smoke outside if you want." Fang looked a little ashamed like a kid caught with a cookie. She reached out to put them away when Lightning gently brushed her hand against Fang's.  
"It's fine Fang. I don't really care much anyway, just don't smoke too many okay."

"Yes Ma'am." Fang gave her a quick salute and got comfortable on the couch taking quite in interest in Lightning's choice of apparel that well seemed a little too boyish. Especially the black shorts, that was definitely more a Fang thing than a Lightning thing given that black shorts weren't exactly helpful in a situation.

"So what are we eating?" Lightning leaned over at the scattered menus of various take out places. From what she could see it seemed like a mix of different types with a Chinese brochure sitting on top of the pile.

"Chinese, although Jojo's family pizza came in a close second." Fang looked over the pile quickly and handed Lightning Jojo's menu just in case something caught her eye.

"Mm it sounds good. The World looks good, oh and this does too." Lightning forced herself to relinquish the paper before she got out of control.

Lightning however crawled over and snuggled up in Fang's arms, her cheeks were bright red yet Fang was nice and warm with the addition of her hoodie.

"Hey I'm not a pillow." Fang pouted just to be troublesome and gently stroke Lightning's hair which from her snuggling a little more to get comfortable seemed to be working.

"So Fang, why was Jojo in second, it looked really good." Lightning looked up at the mischievous look Fang was giving her and sighed.

"I had it yesterday."

Lightning poked Fang gently in the cheek and puffed up her own. "Thought so..."

* * *

 **A/N - So this came out rather quickly however as you all noticed but it was a nice change from the last chapters feel. Sorry if it's too short for you guys. So until next time please read and enjoy.**


	13. Chapter 13: Happy Valentines

Wings Fanfic chapter 13 - Valentine's day!

* * *

 **A/N - Happy Valentines everyone. Hope you're all snuggled up with your loved ones and reading this together. That would be wonderful and make sure to share the love to those close to you and have a wonderful day. Thank you all for reading, reviewing, following and just enjoying this story so far and so for Valentine's day my love goes to all of you!**

 **P.S - This was really fun to write with both couples and Serah and Vanille had yet to really grace the stage so I hope you like them both. Although I definitely feel that Serah and Vanille are a lot more outwardly emotional than Lightning and maybe Fang.**

* * *

 **Serah and Vanille**

"So Sleepyhead, are you gonna get up?" Serah crawled over beside Vanille, poking her cheek, earning a groan from the redhead, who in turn pulled the blankets around her tighter.

"But it's Tuesday, I wanna get like another fifteen minutes." Vanille crooked open her eyes and looked at her partner. "What's happening anyway?"

Serah pouted at her. "Vanille..."

"What?" Vanille responded whilst rubbing her eyes, still half asleep.

"Vanille..." Serah teased her from behind a grin that crept across her face as she shuffled to the door. Vanille watched her and furrowed her brows. The pinkette was a handful whenever she had something planned or when it came to some of Vanille's bad habits, but hey she spent enough around Fang so she picked a few things although not nearly as bad as the Australian herself. Just a habit of walking around in her underwear, drinking while she studied and the occasional cigarette when she was overly stressed. Usually caused by the frustration of dealing with her assistants down at the lab.

Thankfully Serah had enough experience with drinking from Lightning and didn't mind all too much, well at least not when it came to the underwear bit.

Vanille huffed as she pulled herself out of bed and followed her lover down the stairs. It wasn't her birthday, not for a while, so what did she have planned?" Vanille stretched and let out another yawn as she

She stopped speechless as she stepped down from the last step and into the living room, taking a moment to look around and take in the room. Pressing her hand against her chest to keep her heart from exploding she sobbed, nearly tearing up. "Serah..."

Serah bit her lip as she watched Vanille and smiled as she waited for her reaction.

"It's... I love you." Vanille pulled Serah close and kissed her through the tears that ran down her face. Serah pressed her lips against Vanille's and wiped her cheeks. "Bub you're not supposed to cry."

Vanille laughed and nodded, quickly pressing herself into Serah again. "Sorry I know it's just... I love you." Vanille pressed her face into Serah shoulder and held her. A moment passed before Serah finally pried Vanille off of her and led her to the couch.

Rose petals were scattered about the room which was decorated with the table from the kitchen. It was covered with a light pink cloth and two candles on each end. Between them was an array of food and a large bottle of wine accompanied by two glasses.

"Serah, you're too much." Vanille gave her a kiss on the cheek before her jaw dropped and she looked at the table. "It that?"

"Tim tams? Yeah, they looked pretty good. I asked Fang what you guys ate back in Australia and these were one thing. The other was this black tar stuff."

Vanille shook her head and nodded. "It's vegemite hun." She opened the pack and took one of the chocolate coated biscuits out. "I should have got you something..." Vanille frowned and slumped down.

"You're enough." Serah leaned over and bit the Tit tam in half.

Vanille face turned to horror and she stared at Serah who smiled. "Hey, there actually not bad. Oh I nearly forgot I got you something else." Serah turned around and looked over the table. "Ah, there it is."

Vanille tilted her head, curious as to what Serah could pull out now. It was...

"Zombie Bride. Re-engaged." Serah handed Vanille the slasher movie and beamed her a smile along with it. The corpse on the front had blood red hair that went nicely with her wedding dress and large kitchen knife.

"It's wonderful, thanks. Wanna watch it?" Vanille looked at Serah who usually didn't share her love of horror and gory films, preferring to take drama and romance over the guts and gore any day. However, Serah nodded much to her surprise.

While Serah went to put the film in, Vanille reached down to her pants. Only to realize... "Oh yeah."

She'd left her pants in the bedroom. "Serah I'm going to go get my pants."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

Why did she need her pants? Well, there was something in them, or at least she hoped there was something in them. Vanille groaned at the mess of clothes and began sorting through them. She stopped when her fingers brushed against a small black box in the pocket of her jeans. "Gotcha." Vanille grabbed it and tucked in the back pocket of a clean pair of shorts. She returned to Serah who was laying on the couch with a rose in her mouth as she looked at her phone, still unaware of the redhead's return. An idea popped in her mind and with a mischievous grin she snuck over and pounced. Serah grunted as Vanille jumped on her and cuddled up with her.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Serah looked up with a frown.

Vanille laid down and whispered in Serah's ear before tugging on it. "Nope. I'd just poison your ice cream if I wanted to do that."

"But... You're evil." Serah teased and closed her eyes, enjoying the redhead's attempts to appease the almighty Serah.

"Is that better?" Vanille remarked smugly, giving the pinkette some room and instead snuggled against her.

"Mhmm. Wanna start the movie?"

Vanille nodded and gave Serah a gentle kiss on the shoulder and shifted a little to get comfortable while the intro ran.

After an hour of a bride killing zombies and the movie droned on into the credits Serah flicked it over to something more to her taste earning a sigh from her partner.

"That was so good." Vanille took another sip of her wine and curled up against Serah some more who sat her hand on Vanille's.

"Mm. So Vanille who gets the last tim tam?" Serah looked at the biscuit and groaned, damn they were good, probably better than mars.

"You can have it." Vanille moved, her hand dropped down to her back pocket and tapped to make sure the box was still there. After confirming it was she grabbed the tv remote and turned the tv down to a low blur of noise in the background as she looked down at Serah.

"Hey. Whatcha doing?" Serah laid there confused to the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Something I should have done long ago. Serah we've been going out for three years now and every moment of it was breathtaking. So Serah Farron, having had enough wine I shall finally say this. Will you marry me?" Vanille's heart stopped as she opened the little black box, revealing a silver ring with small engravings on the outside to the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Serah looked at the ring and then Vanille for a moment. Her heart beat sounded through her head and she saw how fragile Vanille looked in that second, waiting for an answer. "Yes." She threw her arms up and around Vanille to pull her close.

Vanille sighed in relief and kissed her again, she sniffled as she tried to fight back the tears that spilled from her eyes. In a pointless effort, she tried to wipe them away only to give up and kiss Serah again.

"So what does that make me?" Serah held out her finger for Vanille to put the ring on. A dopey smile on her face as the silver slid onto her finger.

"Beautiful..." Vanille held Serah's hand and smiled some more, damn it was contagious.

Serah sat up a little and cuddled Vanille who was a lot less teary now and clingy now. "We still have vegemite."

"Let's not ruin this..." Vanille chuckled and pressed her nose into Serah's chest. "You smell nice bub."

"I smell like your tears." Serah chuckled and pushed Vanille down and kissed her again. "Wifey, I love you." She laid down and kissed her, not for the last time that day.

* * *

 **Lightning and Fang**

Lightning clicked the door shut behind her and stopped as she came into her apartment. "Fang?" She looked around, slowly walking forward. "Is that food?" Cautiously she approached whatever what on her stove like a bomb. Peering into the pot she relaxed. "Just pasta. Fang you around?"

The Australian appeared with a towel wrapped around her wet hair. "Sorry I was in the shower sunshine." She dropped her bag and relaxed and laid on the couch. She reached out and grabbed the half empty packet on the table. "Hey mind if I pinch a cigarette?" Lightning held one between her fingers.

"Sure just throw me one as well." Fang caught it and leaned over near the stove, causing Lightning to stare at her as she lit her cigarette with the burner.

"WHY?! There are lighters everywhere. There's literally three on the table." Lightning scowled and lit her cigarette normally. "Australians..."

"Hmm?" Fang looked at her and shrugged. "Americans..." The two scowled at each other for a moment before Fang smiled and sat on the other end of the couch.

"So weird..." Lightning puffed out a cloud of smoke and ran her hands through her hair. "You could have just asked for a lighter you know."

"Mmm, that was easier. Anyway I got you something." Fang reached under a cushion and grabbed a rectangle white box. "Here." Fang handed her the box and sighed. "Shit I should get you some coffee." Fang sat her cigarette in the ashtray and rushed to the kitchen.

"Thanks." Lightning chuckled and watched Fang hurry about.

"Hey how many sugars do you have?" Fang looked over with a spoon heaped with sugar.

"One." Lightning fiddled around with the box. She smiled as the lid came off and her fingers ran under the necklace. She stared at it for a moment and let herself genuinely smile, it had been ages since she got something from someone she cared about. Well except for Serah but from someone that wasn't family. In a flash she shot up and pulled Fang to her. The Australian freaked, her attention being ripped from the mugs of coffee to the pinkette that claimed her lips. Her sweet attack nearly sent the cups of coffee over the couch, thankfully Fang could get a word out, that word being. "Coffee..."

Lightning pulled back and grinned. "Thanks." She took the cup and sat it on the table before kissing Fang again.

"Claire... I have coffee too." Lightning frowned and took her cup and placed it beside hers before turning around again. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around Fang. "I love you Fang." Lightning moved forward to kiss again, this time Fang wasn't worried about spilling coffee all over the expensive couch.

The sounds of water spitting caught Fang's attention and she turned, Lightning got somewhat headbutted and ignored again as the Australian gave her a quick kiss and rushed to the rescue of pasta.

"Fang... It's Valentine's day." Lightning huffed and took a sip of her coffee. "

Fang rubbed her hair and nodded. "We have that in Australia too." She made her way over with nothing threatening to burn down or spill. "And no we have the same as you guys, I think."

"Ah okay. So umm thank you for the necklace, it's... pretty."

Fang looked at her, unsure of what the pause meant. She thought the necklace was nice enough, she wasn't great on gifts but she had Vanille help her with it so it should have been fine. "Do you not like it?"

"No." Lightning shot forward. "I mean, no of course I like it. It's beautiful, just weird to hear myself say it all."

Fang chuckled and moved a lot closer. "What about me?"

Lightning had gotten fairly used to Fang's advances, most were welcome too which never hurt. What she wasn't used to was the music that started playing in the background.

Fang shivered in horror, frozen as her phone rang. "Well that's certainly different."

They both burst out laughing and Lightning's expression shifted as Fang threw her phone away. "Jeez so rude." Fang leaned down and kissed her.

Lightning stopped and looked at Fang. "Is your phone okay?"

"Yeah it's a Nokia, it'll be fine. Here lemme put that on you." She held the necklace for Lightning, who leaned her head forward so the brunette could fasten the jewelry around her neck.

"It's nice." Lightning played with it a little. "Wanna watch something while we cuddle?"

Fang stopped for a moment. "Dunno, maybe." She giggled at the look Lightning gave her.

"You're not helping." Lightning took another sip of her coffee, placing it down before she grabbed her cigarette and took a puff. Fang leaned down and kissed her, sucking in the smoke and coughing.

"That was a bad idea." She winced and coughed again.

Lightning chuckled and sat the cigarette down before Fang did anything else. "So how about Die Hard?"

Fang's face lit up and she narrowed her eyes in seriousness. "Which one?"

"Hans Gruber." Lightning shared the approving expression as the other nodded. "Does Australia have Die Hard?"

Fang looked at her and sighed. "Sunshine I'm sure Martians have Die Hard."

Cuddled up in Fang's arms, Lightning laid content with playing with the necklace around her neck and feeling her hand against Fang's that sat on her stomach. She laid her head back against Fang's shoulder and whispered. "I love you."

Fang planted a kiss on Lightning's cheek and grinned. "I love you too." She turned Lightning around so she could look in her clear cerulean eyes. Leaning down she planted a kiss on her forehead and snuggled up with her.

"Fang will you stay with me?" Lightning looked to the Australian nodded and wrapped her arms around Lightning.

"Always."

Lightning cheeks exploded into fiery red balls and the pinkette looked back to the movie. Amongst the action and gunfire Fang could almost feel the happiness radiating from the woman in front of her. She leaned over and grabbed a cup of coffee from the table and took a sip. Lightning shifted a little and reached up for it, taking it with both hands and took a mouthful before handing it back to Fang. "So damn cute."

"Thanks." Lightning looked over to the movie and covered herself as she yawned.

"Hey are you tired?"

Lightning nodded. "Yeah a little."

"Well get some sleep then. I'm gonna go get my jumper." Fang stood up and hurried off. She popped out with the article of clothing still half way over her head. "Wanna pillow as well?"

Lightning sat up and looked at Fang. "Mmm. Yes please." She watched as Fang's head popped out and the brunette struck a pose. Darting back into the room she re-appeared with a pillow in hand.

"Fang... You're sweet."

"I know, want me to go with your coffee?" Fang gave her a look as she crawled back beside her and handed her the pillow.

"No, I prefer you by my side." Lightning laid down and sunk into the pillow, her closing eyes taking in Fang's tanned face before they shut. Fang watched her fall asleep and grabbed the remote to turn the tv down before she wrapped her arms around her.

Rain blanketed the outside, the pitter patter on the roof and the soft lullaby echoing through the open balcony door that came with it. Lightning grinned happily in her sleep while wrapped up in Fang's arms who laid with her and watched her sleep, occasionally taking a sip of coffee before returning her attention to the pinkette. Lightning began to toss around in her sleep and scrunched up her face, which hurt Fang as was powerless to stop it. Fang did the only thing she could think of. Leaning over, she pushed her hair aside and gently kissed Lightning's cheek before softly talking to her. "It's okay Lighting, I'm here. Sorry but I can't stop the tears, just know that I'll be here beside you, always, to help you through 'em." Fang laughed at how ridiculous she probably sounded yet in this moment with Lightning wrapped up in her arms, settling softly in her dreams. Nothing else mattered.


	14. Chapter 14: The Saber of Lightning

Wings Chapter 14

"Claire come on. You promised me you would wear something nice to my wedding." Serah pouted and tried the door again, still locked, drat.

Lightning huffed and looked at the ceiling. "Yeah but I thought that'd be never." She got up and went over to the door, opening it for Serah. Better to open before the younger pinkette 'opened it'.

"Thank you. Now come on, it won't be that bad. Plus you look nice in a dress, imagine what Fang would think." Serah chimed as she dragged Lightning out into the lounge room.

"Prolly think that I look ridiculous." Lightning sighed and gladly took the mug of coffee Serah held for her.

"Well you're not the only one that's going to be wearing a dress Claire. Please just for one day?" Serah gave Lightning her best puppy dog eyes.

With a sip of her coffee Lightning nodded in defeat. "Fine but no pink."

"YES!" Serah threw her arms around Lightning. "Thank you. Come on let's go."

"But my coffee..."

Serah shot her a scowl. "I'll buy you a coffee from that place."

"Alright you've got a deal Serah." She sat her cup down and grabbed her sneakers. "But I need to go for a run so, think you can keep up?" Lightning glanced over while tying her hair up.

"I should, I do exercise you know."

"If you say so."

Serah huffed and threw her arm in an attempt to signal Lightning who was looking smug and not even breaking a sweat. "Pleh... Stahhp." She clung to the wall as her legs screamed.

"Serah, are you okay?" Lightning held out a bottle of water for her sister. "You should have said something. So how far is it?"

Serah looked up and smiled. "It's not far." Gaining some composure the duo continued the rest of the way just walking.

"So how's Fang going?" Serah glanced over to Lightning who responded by rolling her eyes.

"She's Fang I guess. Definitely nice to have around with and I really like just laying around with her. So wanna stop by somewhere and get something to drink? Can't be too good to try your dress on while covered in sweat right?"

Serah nodded and looked around, quickly finding a cafe for them. "Yeah I think the designer would kill me." With a laugh at the idea of the seamstress fighting her off, she handed the bottle back. "You're stamina is crazy you know."

"Yeah well it never hurts when you have to deal with rookies, give me behemoths any day."

Lightning slumped back in her chair and took in the aircon and chatter of the cafe Serah had brought them to. As far as Serah's choice of cafes went this wasn't too bad. Mostly because there was a lack of pink to the older pinkette's liking.

Serah slumped down to her coffee, watching her sister. With a slight grin, she took a sip and continued watching her sister look around. It was relieving to finally see Claire break through the Lightning, that her sister hadn't truly become a machine over the last eight years since their parent's departure. Lightning looked at her somewhat worried.

"Is there something on my face?" She checked, there shouldn't have been.

"No it's just you look happier lately."

Lightning nodded and rested on her arms. "Yeah I think so too. I think you and Vanille are getting to me."

"Heehee. Just wait till the face eating starts." Serah cackled and pressed her hands together.

"Jeez, still a kid."

Serah crossed her arms and pouted, trying to maintain a somewhat serious expression without laughing, which ended up with her looking rather silly. "Am I?"

Slowly Lightning exhaled and took up her mug. "No, not really. You're getting married soon for one thing. You seem like you've got thinks under control, enough for me to not worry at least." A sip of coffee interrupted her for a brief moment before she continued. "So can I see your dress?"

"Yep." Serah waved down a waitress and grabbed the bill, splitting it half and half with Lightning.

The store was a little further down the street, a quick jog at most yet the two walked slowly as to not to induce another round of intense sweating from Serah's lack of stamina.

"So Lightning..." A smile tugged at Serah's lips as she nudged her sister. "Do anything special for Valentines? Any Australians bear their fangs?"

Lightning groaned and scowled. "Leave the bad jokes to Vanille. Jeez, that was... But not really. I was at work and well." Her mind drifted back to Valentine's day. She'd been given a simple task of taking out the second division who'd returned a week prior and had some r&r for a while.

* * *

"So did you hear?" Second divisions acting captain whispered as quietly as he could while the soldier beside him could still hear him, who glared at him and shook his head.

"No what? Better be important if you're braving it through an exercise." The soldier looked up at Lightning who was jogging a few meters in front of the group.

The captain looked up at Lightning and continued talking when it seemed Lightning couldn't hear them, however to Lightning their hushed whispers were about as loud as a firecracker in a library.

"So apparently the Sargent has a special someone."

"No way." The soldier looked at Lightning and gulped. He'd had the pleasure of watching her take down a squad during close combat drills by herself. "I thought us military guys were supposed to be scary ones."

"I know right, good thing she's on our side. But yeah apparently it's a chick too."

"What, the Sargent is into girls?"

Lightning rolled her eyes, the chatter was rather annoying. Maybe it was different in the army but from what she'd experienced back in the guardian core, even breathing could give you away in an operation and put you on the business of a weapon. "Oh wait, these guys fight monsters..." She mumbled to herself, allowing a prideful grin hide under her serious expression.

"So man give me some info?"

"That's all I know dude, well except that she's..."

Lightning stopped suddenly and turned around to the squad. "We've been suddenly ambushed by the enemy, combat drills now."

The soldiers nodded and paired off, well except for a certain two.

"Peters take Samson and Hawkins and secure the perimeter."

"Yes Ma'am." Peters gave her a salute and marched off in proper formation, leaving his friend in Lightning's hands.

"Ma'am, who will I be drilling with?"

"I shall be filling in for Peters captain, if that's okay with you." She threw a few practice punches and glared at the captain who nodded.

"Yes ma'am." He assumed a defensive stance and watched her closely.

She watched his movements, taking notes as they circled around. His movements were a little clunky, strange for a captain, could be an injury though, his eyes were dead set on her though which was good in their current situation.

"Captain what were you and Peters discussion during the exercise?"

He shot forward and fell back when his quick jabs hit only the air. "Nothing ma'am. Just rumors amongst the men."

"Ah. Could you inform me of those rumors captain." She kept circling him, much to the captain's irritation.

"If you would like ma'am. There are rumors that you have been enamored by another person which has been taken with quite an interest Ma'am. If I may ma'am might ask something?"

"Yes Captain you may." Lightning dashed forward and punched softly against the captain's block.

He shrugged the weakened blows off and retaliated with a small flurry of quicker punches and a grapple, which Lighting twisted out of and landed behind him. "Is it true?"

"I believe you have something more demanding to pay attention to."

"That would be?"

"You're leg." Lightning shot forward, sending chills down the man's spine.

* * *

"Work was fun, I'm glad Aerith and I get back to the core soon. I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I prefer paperwork to playing mother."

"Really?" Serah stood looked at her smugly, stopping outside the dress store. "Because you and Fang can't have kids."

Lightning smirked as she pushed past. "Nope but we have you and Vanille."

"Hey!" Serah followed after her with a pout. "What about us being adults?"

"Yeah I dunno..." Lightning chuckled and looked around, her attention quickly grabbed by the short brunette sporting a pair of thick glasses and several measuring tapes hanging over her shoulders. Mumbling something to herself she approached, her eyes lighting up behind her glasses.

"Pink hair, Farron! You miss, are late." She nodded and hurried over to an area decorated with mirrors and a stand. "Well come on."

Serah grinned, contempt on letting the little woman boss around her older sister.

"But I'm not getting married." Lightning looked around for Serah who had all so conveniently disappeared. "Dammit Serah..."

Lightning grunted as the brunette hurried around her, making all kinds of remarks about her figure and how she would be wonderful to dress up, neither Lightning was currently appreciating.

"So ready to talk designs?" The brunette sat a chair out for Lightning and proceeded to retrieve one for herself.

"Actually you see I'm not getting married, my sister is." Lightning rubbed her temples to vent off some of the frustration of being poked and prodded for the last half an hour. Spotting the other pinkette she stood up. "One moment."

"Ow ow ow!" Serah winced as Lightning dragged her over.

Lightning released her and gave the seamstress her best smile. "May I present the actual bride."

With a nod the woman grinned. "Thank you, makes my job a lot easier, and if you ever want a dress lemme know. You have some crazy angles." She turned around to repeat the process of measuring everything again for another half hour, leaving Lightning blushing like an idiot. She grabbed out her phone and found Fang's number, quickly sending a text.

'Hey do you think I have crazy angles?"

...

...

'What the heck are crazy angles? You mean curves or something Sunshine cause you know you're damn sexy."

Lightning frantically turned off her phone and shoved it back in her pocket. "Nice one Claire." Dragging herself over, she slumped back in her chair and watched Serah stand stiff like a board as the brunette darted around with a measuring tape in hand.

* * *

Lightning collapsed on her couch and gladly so. After the seamstress finished up she wanted to measure Lightning some more and Serah was all too happy to hand her over to the woman, even helped her force Lightning into some of the dresses too, evil little sister.  
Rolling over she nodded to herself, someone had been neglected recently and that was about to change. With a grin she got up and changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, quickly grabbing her keys and helmet on her way out.

Gleaming in the darkness of the garage there it sat. It's body shining silver and green. Lightning climbed on top and pressed her hand against it. "Hey it's been a while huh. Sorry about that, I've been busy with things." She scooped up her hair and tied into a messy ponytail. "Oh Serah's getting married, that's something and to that redhead that nearly hit you once, you remember at the first Christmas party she came to. Oh and I have some news myself." Lightning's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink before she covered it with her helmet. "So you know Fang? Yep, the girl who rides the GSX, well I think she's cute. What do you mean you don't like her?" Lightning chuckled at her CBR's attitude and turned the ignition over, the bike gladly purring in response to being started, it had been a while since it had fuel pumping through it's veins.  
Lightning shook her head and scowled at her CBR in response to something she could only hear. "Yes I've ridden on the GSX, is someone jealous?" She grinned and kicked it into gear. "C'mon I'm taking you somewhere you like."

Pulling out onto the Bodhum race course Lightning slowly sped out, waving to Zack who was tending to some riders in the pits. Watching a few others whizz by only made her more eager to get out there and show them what she and the Saber could do, unfortunately, that would have to wait. Someone needed a check over and a fresh set of tires. Pulling into her garage Lightning looked around getting a feel for where everything was, and whether everything was still okay. Luckily the spare tires she kept around were still piled up in the corner. Lightning took her time, enjoying her home away from home and the background noise of engines roaring down the straight behind her, now all she needed to do was add to that noise and things would be perfect.

With the check up done, Lightning laid down a little lower as the CBR accelerated down the pits and onto the main straight before slowing down for the corner. Taking it slow for a few laps was nice, simply enjoying the feeling of her old friend underneath her however with her tires warm and her senses refreshed it was time to kick it up a gear It was behaving really well today, probably because it hadn't gotten out for a run in a while, also not having bullet holes in one's body was always a plus in its books. A grin crossed the pinkette's face as she rounded another corner superbly and pressed down on the accelerator, her companion more than happy to comply with its rider's wishes.

The other racers on the track glanced as she passed them by, her Saber easily breaking one hundred kph and pressing rapidly onwards. The breaks responded when she pulled them on as corner started getting a little close. Lightning listened to her bike as she sung and pressed around the corner, already wanting to be pressed against the limit and not shot at... that was always nice.

"Hey Lightning! How's the girl holding up?" Zack tossed Lightning a towel, who then proceeded to wipe the sweat off of her face and beam the man a grin.

"Really good actually. I think someone's happy." Lightning folded the towel and sat it on the barrier and grabbing a bottle of water instead. She smiled as she looked over her bike, it was running really, really good today.

Zack nodded and took note of the pinkette's overly joyful mood today, glad to see the woman in such high spirits again. "I'm gonna go relax in the office if you need anything just lemme know okay?"

"Okay, thanks." Lightning sat the bottle down and put her helmet back on, eager to keep going while the sun was still up. "See you're way better than that silly GSX. So ready for another few laps?"

* * *

 **A/N - Hello and yes I wrote a CBR segment, the poor thing was just collecting dust and deserved so much more. Unfortunately there isn't really room for the bike when Lightning and Fang are snuggling on the couch but finally here it is and I hope you like it.**

 **Now regarding the actual story the next few chapters will likely be themed around Ligtning and Fang dealing with people close to them getting married and dealing with the events that arise with them. With all this love and romance, however will Lightning and Fang be drawn even closer? Probably not for a while since they only just started going out... As usual hope you all enjoyed!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Wings in the Workshop Chapter 15**

The Australian tossed her things on the couch and fell down beside them. One of the waitresses at Lebreau's bar had called in sick at the last moment and Fang unfortunately happened to be relaxing there at the time. However that wasn't what had worn her out. Instead it was her damned brain wreaking havoc on itself again. The reason for that was it had been a year since her and Vanille's said goodbye to the little town where they grew up and flew to America. "Jeez can't believe I still care about that place."

Rolling over she settled into the cushions with a troubled frown on her face, a sight nearly as rare as Lightning cooking, sure she could grill up a mean steak yet when it came to the finer things, like pasta... Fang chuckled as the memory flooded back.

* * *

"Fang, I can cook." Lightning scowled at her partner who was giving her the usual smug grin when Fang thought she was right. Well this time she'd prove her wrong. Grabbing the things she needed Lightning relaxed and listened to her thoughts. How hard could pasta be right? Just heat the water and cook the pasta, sure there were some other things but they couldn't be too hard. I fight Behemoths for god sake. Damn Fang and her damn smug face, just wanna punch it.

Fighting the urge to carry out with the act she instead filled the small saucepan with water and set it n the stove.

"So Fang how was work?" Lightning glanced over and smiled, nothing had exploded yet and if she could prevent it, then nothing would be exploding, at least not on her watch.

"Pretty good. Sazh is happy, he got to see Dahj before he headed off with Jihl to see England, apparently Jihl was feeling home sick so that's cool. Never been to England myself though." Fang took a sip of her beer and flicked the pinkette on the nose, earning a surprised squeak from her. "Don't forget the pasta..."

"I wasn't." Lightning huffed and grabbed the packet, tipping a bunch in before attacking Fang with a strand of pasta that broke.

"Dude... Fight me!" Fang shot up and grabbed her own piece and retaliated, breaking into an all out pasta fencing war. The two settled down once the packet had been emptied, much to Fang's relief. "Where do you get you Stamina?" Fang panted, taking heavy breaths in as Lightning attended to the pasta.

"Training, lot's of it. So I put the sauce on now right?"

Fang looked at her and shook her head. "You forgot?"

"No... I was waiting for the pasta to cook." Lightning poured the mix of red goop and supposed vegetables into another saucepan.

"Jeez what did you live off?" Fang sat on the back of the couch and dangled her legs just over the floor.

"Rations, protein food and microwave meals. Oh and Serah's cooking." Lightning crumpled under the small defeat that was cooking. She never had time to actually learn much, well other than the necessary things.

"Jeez, I guess it suits you."

Lightning looked up, a small pang in her chest. "Well I didn't have time to learn okay." She winced as her voice was laced with venom.

"Yeah..." Fang rubbed her neck and sunk a little. "Sorry..."

The sound of sauce bubbling might have well been an explosion of sound in the silence that hung in the room. Lightning moved it off the heat and cursed under her breath. "Fang I'm sorry."

"No, no. I was being insensitive. So how's the pasta?" Fang gave her a smile which helped.

"Dunno I can't cook." Lightning looked at the sauce and shrugged, it looked as good as the stuff she'd eaten before.

Fang looked at the sauce and nodded. "You did well. I'm proud of you."

"So..."

"Now you gotta strain the water from the pasta and then serve it up."

Lightning narrowed her brows and looked for the strainer, it was somewhere around here. "Aha... Oh... Umm..." She fidgeted as the pasta sort of well, turned into goop as it poured out. "I'll just cook some more pas..." She stopped murmuring to herself and looked at the empty packet on the bench. "Crap..."

Now this caught the Australian's attention. Lightning stood scowling at everything with an empty pot in her hand.

"Something wrong?"

"The pasta is well... Pasta it's time." Lightning cringed at her pun and placed the pot in the sink. hurrying to the fridge she opened it and looked through the shelves. "Gotta be something..."

In the strainer, still in the sink was a mess of goopy pasta bits. "You left them on the stove... You left them..." Fang fought back the fit of laughter and looked up. Stopping and staring back at the cerulean eyes that threatened to tear up.

"Sorry." Lightning sunk below the fridge door.

Fang looked at pasta and clicked her fingers. "You're forgetting I'm Australian." Grabbing the 'pasta' she hurried over and slammed the strainer against the pot. "Bam! Bolognaise."

Lightning wrapped her arms around Fang and pressed her nose into her back. "Thank you Fang."

"No prob, your pasta is fine. However, let's buy desserts though."

"Yeah."

* * *

Fang huffed and looked around at the apartment. Australia could wait a little longer.

"Hey Fang, whatcha up to?" Lightning made her way across and collapsed in the armchair across from the sofa. "Urgh why do they always run?"

"Nothing much. Just thinking about what I've left behind."

Lightning looked at her, curious. "What you've left behind?"

"Yeah, you know the things you gave up in order to chase your dreams." Fang sat upright and watched Lightning take off the outer of her uniform, leaving her in a t-shirt and boxers... "Umm..."

"It' hot, and the aircon is getting fixed. You aren't that sexy. So what did you give up?"

Fang combed her fingers through her hair and looked over to Lightning. "I'm not?"Let's see..."

"Okay well maybe a little. Are you gonna answer my question?" Lightning fanned herself with her hand and huffed. Damn airconditioner.

"Alright so what I left behind. Let's see..."

* * *

 **A/N - So big news! I'm moving house soon which means this will be the last update until things get sorted a new house. Good thing though will be the super fast internet I want to get so I can actually stream and stuff, that would be so cool! A**

 **Oh and the main reason updates aren't as big at the moment is because... I'm working on a novel myself that's pretty big and super cool. So if you like buff girls, cool magic, big monsters and even bigger swords then it might be up your alley. Inspired by things like dragons dogma and berserk so lots of guts and actions.  
P.S No actual Gutts. A**

 **Thanks as always and hope you guys enjoyed!**


	16. Chapter 16: A day for the past

Chapter 16 - A day for the future, a day for the past

Lightning huffed and stepped out in front of the standing mirror. Clutching her hands together she huffed again and scowled at the suit she was wearing. It had been her fathers and recovered from the great war. Her fingers dropped to the spots that were stitched up. Her father had dove in between Lightning's mother and an enemy soldier. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she touched on the memory. Her uncle Cid had arrived dressed in his uniform and bearing a letter for a sixteen-year-old Lightning. She had spent that night wrapped in a blanket on the couch with Serah curled up against her.

"How can you be so reckless Claire? Cid told me you enlisted in the Guardian Corps. Is this why you dropped out of college?" It The first time she came back from her first week of training at the Guardian Corps, covered in bruises and scratches. Serah stared at her for a moment and just slammed the door in her face. With her hair recently cut short to meet the Corp requirements she decided to put her training to the test, the back window. What she hadn't counted for was the pinkette staring at her. "It's a three story house Claire!"

"Well, the front door was locked." She huffed out of breath. Carrying herself up three floors was harder than she had anticipated.

Serah rolled her eyes and sat beside her. "So how was it?"

"Guardian Corps? Oh so cool. There's a tonne of awesome people there. I met a couple today and hit it off with some uptight know it all. Her name's Jihl, Jihl Nabaat." The last past caused the pinkette to shiver in horror. There were few people who could match the kind of look Serah was giving her right now, the kind that could freeze a Behemoth in its tracks between its legs.

"Just make sure you're doing this for you okay. I can take care of myself now."

Lighting nodded and sat her bag down in the kitchen. If she tried to push the whole subject of who was working and paying for everything she'd only get scolded more. "I am finally. Sorry it took so long for me to decide."

"Well, I'm glad you happy." Serah mirrored the smile Lightning was giving her.

Lightning rummaged through her and handed Serah a pack of burger patties. "Got you these, I was thinking we could have hamburgers for dinner."

"Right, I'll give you a hand." Serah chuckled and gave her sister a playful shove.

With a look of anguish Lightning retaliated by flicking pepper at Serah. "Hey, my cooking isn't that bad."

"Says you, throwing pepper around."

"Says you, pushing me while I've got a knife."

"Why do you have the knife? I'm a better cook." Serah glared back and watched Lightning ignore her and grab a handful of ingredients from the fridge.

Lightning looked over. "Yeah, so I was thinking you could do the burgers."

"Oh... Okay. I prefer baking... I can't cook meat." A pang shot through Serah as she admitted her weakness.

A smug grin tugged the edges of Lightning's mouth. "Okay then, two of the best burgers coming up."

"See I told you, we get taught how to make food as well." Lightning gestured to the burgers sitting on her plate.

The buns were store bought but everything in between was their hard work. Taking another bite she sighed, thinking to herself quietly. 'I'll be here for you Serah, whether it's burgers or boys.' She shivered at the last one and dreaded the day that Serah would bring someone home with her. They'd have to go through her to get to Serah.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the pinkette nudged her and tilted her head. "You okay there Lightning? You're gonna spill your burger on your new pants if you keep spacing out."

"Hmm yeah, what's up?" She sat her plate on the coffee table and sat up.

Serah reached over and grabbed the TV remote. "If you're tired you're should sleep. It must be tough training all week at GC." She flicked through Netflix for something to watch.

"Yeah but it's not too bad. Well I'm gonna go get some rest. Goodnight Serah." Lightning fled to her room fearing whatever her sister was watching. Whatever it was it usually had a more physical approach to sappy romance usually meaning lots of sloppy kisses and holding.

Back in reality she looked up as the door creaked opened with Fang leaning against the frame. "Looking good Sunshine." She spoke softly not to startle the pinkette in uniform.

Lightning looked up at Fang. "You can come in you know, it's only bad if the bride sees the bride."

Fang marched in and saluted Lightning who just rolled her eyes. "So Lieutenant shall I help you into your uniform." Fang pressed forward wrapping her arms around the pinkette's waist and pulled them chest to chest.

"God no. You have no idea how annoying this is to put on. You'd think for combat fatigues they'd be a little more comfortable." Lightning's grin turned to a frown as her fingers ran down the front of the steel blue jacket. "It has some kind of stiff plating in the front that's squashing my boobs."

"Yeah, you do look better in less. However, despite my opinion, your father would be proud of his little soldier."

"Funny, that's what my father used to call me." Lightning rested her head on Fang's shoulder. Making it somewhat difficult for the brunette to kiss her on the cheek.

"What was he like?"

"My father?" It had been eleven years now since they left to fight in the great war. "He was super into bikes. I remember when I took his bike out when I was fourteen. Mum wasn't happy when I crashed it and skinned my knees but Dad just laughed if off. You should have seen her face when he bought me my own bike."

"Ah that's a bit better than my time riding a bike." The Australian smiled cockily although she felt iffy about it.

Lightning looked at her with a concerned look on her face. "Do I want to know?"

"I might have borrowed the bike from someone. I was going to return it but the cops pulled me over." She huffed and frowned. "Turns out a fifteen-year-old riding a bike is a little suspicious and illegal, especially in the centre of Melbourne."

"Ooh, I guess your parents weren't as forgiving as mine?" Lightning grinned at the idea of Fang looking quite daring as she sped along a highway with police in tow, not a good thing of course considering her current occupation.

Fang took a deep breath and looked at the pinkette. "You don't know? I'm an orphan." She pecked Lightning on the cheek before striding over to the door. "Well I'll see you later alligator."

"Bye Fang." Lightning watched Fang slipped out the door with a smug grin on her face.

Lightning sat there watching the door waiting for it to swing open again. Thankfully she had a moment to herself before everything began. Lightning kicked her sneakers off and grabbed the boots she was supposed to wear.

"Claire you look... Dad would be proud." Serah said in the doorway, dressed in her wedding dress that was surprisingly more practical than Lightning had imagined. Damn now she would have thank that overly touchy stylist if she ever saw that woman again.

"Lightning? Right, do you want me to give you a moment? "

Lightning shook her head and gave her sister a reassuring smile. "Anyway today is your wedding so, aren't you nervous?" She sat down and pulled her boots on. Serah shook her head and shrugged. "You know I thought I would be okay. Settling down with someone for the rest of my life that I love. But I'm horrified, this is probably the biggest thing in my life." Serah stuck her tongue out and giggled. "Don't worry sis, you'll be over her one day."

"Like hell I will."

"Well, I hear Fang is quite fond of you. She has been spending a quite a bit of time around your place."

"So I like to hangout with my girlfriend." Lightning shrugged, Fang was fun to hang around with.

Serah squealed and wrapped Lightning in a hug. "I'm so proud of you! You actually said it. I was betting with Vanille whether or not you would actually say it. SO I just lost ten bucks..."

With a long sigh Lightning hugged her back. "Well I have to thank you for it. Now let's get you married before Vanille changes her mind..."

Serah looked in horror. "She wouldn't!"

"Do you Oerba Dia Vanille take Serah Farron to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health until death do you part?"

The redhead nodded.

...

...

"I do."

 **A/N - It has been a while. I am a bit rusty as I haven't been writing much lately but I hope you enjoy. For anyone wondering about updates for pretty much anything other than Wings well I kinda have very little time on my hands right now due to working all day and some other projects that are not fanfiction related. SO I'm really looking forward to Christmas when I get a month break from my job. o**


	17. Chapter 17: Dinner Date

**A/N: A humongous thanks you all who have waited patiently, tapping your feet in anger and waited over a year for me to finally release an update that even I didn't think was coming. But here it is and I am damn sorry it took so long. It's just I've been super conscious of what I've been writing and lately, I've been down in the dumps(thanks to IRL junk.) but I'm back with more lovey-dovey fluff!**

 **Also, it's been nearly two years since it all started so I want to say thank you all very much for reading and seeing me this far! I hope to see you all again very soon so without further ado I hope you love it!**

* * *

Looking up and down in the mirror, Fang grinned proud of the figure staring back at her. After an evening of pacing back and forth, she had chosen to wear a black knee-length cocktail dress instead of a suit With a long exhale, she stuffed any regrets to the back of her mind and ventured onwards into Lightning's apartment. The heels of her shoes clicking against the tiles as she took the opportunity to look around. The bathroom door that was still shut which Fang rolled her eyes at, it had presumably been that way since Fang ended her call with Lightning and left her apartment half an hour ago, catching a cab over.  
The apartment was the easiest indicator of Lightning's changes. The small easy to miss things that stuck out like a sore thumb to Fang as she poured over the apartment. The colourful cushions on the couch, the pictures on the walls. Even the chairs against the balcony glass where Lightning and Fang would spend rainy evenings. The Pulsian smiled as she reached down to the pack of cigarette's on the table and counted them. "All there." Fang mumbled as she sat them back down. Why did Lightning have smokes anyway, white camel, wasn't Fangs. "Sunshine if you take any longer we're gonna have to call it a lunch date instead."  
Fang listened with pleasure to the panicked sounds from the bathroom.  
"Fang just a second. I've done this before, it just takes me a little bit, stupid makeup." Lightning shouted back at her from behind the door. The last bit faded into a mumble.  
"Why do you even need make-up Sunshine? You look good all the time." Fang said and listened to Lightning mumble, Fang one and Lightning zero, as per usual. Fang chuckled to herself and looked at the time on her phone again.  
Fang and Lightning had been invited to dinner with Serah and a few other friends to celebrate Serah's victory in the first half of the Gran Pulse-Cocoon Rally. The restaurant Serah and Vanille had chosen was one of the top restaurants in the heart of the city, not that it was any concern to Fang or Lightning.

Enough was enough, Fang thought as she got to her feet and walked over to the bathroom door. Surely Lightning wouldn't mind if she just took a peek. Fang pressed her hand against the door and hesitated for a moment. "Claire. Are you okay in there?"  
Looking away from the mirror Lightning gave in, reaching over she turned the lock. "Actually, could you come in for a moment?"  
"Bless that Yun charm." Fang whispered to herself and grinned, opening the door she opted to stand in the doorway. Turning her head to the side, Fang stared at Lightning stunned as Lightning struggled with her long red cheongsam style dress. The dress had a zipper that went all the way up her back.  
Lightning huffed and glared at Fang for just standing in the door and staring at her like a dope. "I can't get this damn zipper at the back, could you give me a hand?" Lightning struggled and reached around, groaning in frustration as it eluded her yet again.  
Lightning stopped and looked over, her cheeks going bright red as her eyes ascended the sleek tanned legs and the tight-fitting dress that hugged Fangs figure. Lightning quickly snapped her gaze forward and mewled her next sentence. "Yeah, so the zipper..."  
"Ah right, well Sunshine Miss Yun's to the rescue," Fang said proudly and smiled. Lightning's lingering gaze hadn't gone unnoticed. Standing behind her, Fang leant in and teased Lightning with soft kisses against her nape. With her free hand, she reached down and pulled the zipper up. "Claire you look really good," Fang whispered as she rested her head on Lightning's shoulder and hugged her from behind.  
"Yeah, you too." Lightning responded and leant her head against the mess of black hair on her shoulder. "Your legs are amazing, I mean you, the dress, nice."  
"Hehe. Do they now? I thought you like me in my overalls, covered in oil and grease and sweat."  
Lightning cried out and covered her face with her hands. "This happens every time Fang. Whenever you're around I can't think straight."  
"Hehe that's no problem, I like you better when you think gay."  
Lightning squeaked as Fang pulled her hands away from her face and put her lips there instead. "Ah screw it, I'm eating dessert now." She said with a mouthful of Lightning.  
Lightning moaned softly as she gently eased Fang off and sighed in relief. "Well Yun you're going to have to wait or we'll miss dinner."  
"Like I said, I could have dessert now. Would that be so bad?" Fang said already gathering herself. A relaxed smile crossed her face as she looked up to the horrified expression on Lightning's face. "What?"  
"Fang getting in this dress is a damn nightmare. It makes GC training look like a walk in the park."  
"Getting you out might be fun though, so how about after dinner I give you a hand with that zipper again? Right now I guess we better scram before Serah comes after us."  
"Or Vanille." Lightning said as she followed Fang out to the lounge room.  
Fang shivered and stared through the wall. "Yeah. Poor girl has to work nearly every time Serah has a race so she only ends up watching her from her phone. Anyway, are you really gonna be fine in those shoes?" Fang looked to Lightning who was wobbling in her heels. Lightning looked up with an uneasy smile and nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll be alright." With a deep breath of air, Lightning managed to walk over to the door without breaking a leg. "See Fang. I can handle behemoths so what are a pair of high heels gonna do?" Lightning said smugly as she watched Fang walk with ease.  
"Oh my sweet Sunshine, how little you know. Just remember that we've got a lot of walking to do Sunshine."

"Congratulations!" Lebreau cheered and raised a glass to herself, mumbled as she sagged over the counter. Between grumpily moping and drinking, she complained to Tifa who was moving up and down the bar with a frown as she restocked the shelves.  
"You know Lebreau this would be done by now if you stopped sulking and gave me a hand," Tifa said in a happy tone compared to the atmosphere surrounding the woman at the other end of the bar. "Hey Lebreau come on now, I'm sure she's had a good reason for not seeing you all month, she's probably busy with the race and all that going on."  
Lebreau sat her glass down and threw her arms up in defeat. "Tifa that's just it. The race, she left me behind. We've been partners since the time she could see over the dashboard and she left me behind."  
Lebreau sighed in one of her very, very rare moments where she just felt gloomy. Tifa had only seen it happen twice, this morning included. Setting the box of alcoholic beverages down, Tifa leant over and pressed a kiss to the woman's cheek earning a flicker of life in Lebreau's doe brown eyes. "Come on you haven't got dressed for dinner tonight and I was looking forward to seeing your dress."  
"I know it's just... She's given up on me. I haven't seen her all month. Tifa what did I do wrong?" Lebreau looked up with a frown.  
Tifa shook her head and beamed the woman a smile, filling in for Lebreau's lack of energy. "Come on 'Breau when have you ever done anything wrong? "  
Lebreau puffed her cheeks and began rambling. "Well, that time I broke that guys arm, the car thief ring I had back then. Also bringing Fang in as a car thief. The Mercedes I stole when I met you, the time I forged my passport to avoid getting nabbed when I wanted to come out and see you. Oh and the money I stole and used to buy this life with you." Lebreau's head dropped to the counter again and she continued droning off into the wood. "I'm a terrible person."  
"Tifa you know none of that matters now. That was a different you and we both know it. You've changed, I've changed and it's all for the better." Picking up the box of beer Tifa moved back down to the other side of the bar. "You know that person doesn't sound like she'd have given all her ill-gotten money to an orphanage and slugged out a poor life with drunks and idiots behind a tiny little bar. She doesn't sound like the woman that I wake up to every morning, who drools in her sleep too."  
Lebreau looked up and crumbled under the happy expression of Tifa's face. "Waugh! I don't drool. "  
Tifa laughed and rolled her eyes. "Mhm sure whatever you say 'Breau."  
"You're right like always, sorry T. What would I do without you?"  
"Prison, straight up," Tifa said coldly and laughed at her partner who couldn't fight back the smile that brightened her face up. With a victorious smirk, Tifa handed Lebreau a case of beer. "Wanna do the end fridges while I do these ones?"  
"Only because it's you," Lebreau said and shot to her feet, humming and moving with energy as she hurried down to the other end of the bar. "Do I really drool in my sleep."  
"Yep."  
"Grrrr. You should have told me." Lebreau huffed as she started filling the fridge.  
"It's cute."

Lebreau turned to the door and narrowed her eyes as she stared at the two customers who came in. "So you finally dare show your face, traitor. Well, how'd it go? You better have gotten top five." Lebreau said menacingly as she stopped and stared Fang down.  
Fang grinned and held up two fingers. "As a matter of fact Lebreau I got fourth."  
With a long sigh, Lebreau hung her head and walked towards Fang. "God damn idiot! Why didn't you see me all month?"  
Instinctively Fang stepped back from the approaching bartender and her arms reading in a defensive stance for what was to come. Unexpectedly, however, Lebreau threw her arms around Fang and squeezed the life out of her with a hug. "You had me worried all month you little pain in the ass," Lebreau complained and ignored Fang's squirming earning a laugh from Tifa who was glad to see Lebreau back to some degree of her usual self. All that dreary moping around was starting to get to her.

Lightning stepped out from behind Fang and bowed her head.. "Sorry that was my fault."  
"Hmm." Lebreau pulled back, showing mercy to Fang as she looked Lightning up and down. "Oh yeah you. Fang brought you in here a while back right?"  
Lightning stuck out her hand before Lebreau could get a hold of her. "Lightning and you're... Lebreau?" Lightning said and cast her glance to the bartender, snapping her fingers she nodded. "And Tifa."  
"The no-show!" Fang shouted and winced as Lebreau flicked her in the ear.  
Tifa huffed and joined Lebreau at the bar. "It's nice to see you again too Fang? Do you want anything to drink Lightning? Maybe something a little lighter than last time." Tifa turned her attention to the floor and giggled to herself, remembering all too well the drunken mess that Fang had dragged out of her bar.  
"Whatever I don't really care anyway. I'm gonna duck out for a smoke." Lightning said flatly and wobbled in her heels towards the door leaving the trio as the door shut behind her.  
"Oops." Tifa winced and looked to Lebreau with her brows raised and huffed. "Right my fault, I'll go."  
Lebreau silently mouthed 'thank you' to the bartender who sat down the case of beer, dried her hands and hurried out after her. Tifa stopped and looked to Fang. "Sorry if we went a bit far. Who knew she'd be so sensitive?"  
Fang slumped against the bar and smiled. "Yep, that's just how she is."  
"So she just puts on a face too? On the inside, she's a big silly marshmallow." Lebreau gave Fang a smug look. "That's why she's so perfect for you Fang isn't it?"  
"Oi who you calling a marshmallow? You think you can take me 'Breau?" Fang shot to her feet and eyed the woman down. Taking the chance Tifa slipped out quietly with Lightning.

Fang watched the door shut and turned to Lebreau the instant it did, speaking in a hushed whisper. "Right she's gone. You said you got it finished already?"  
Lebreau nodded and sat her drink down, scrambling to her feet as she darted for the bar. "I do, through here," Lebreau whispered as she leapt over the counter in one swift motion. Turning around Lebreau covered her mouth, suppressing the laugh as she watched Fang amusingly flop over in her dress.  
"Blarg!" Fang carefully spun her legs over the bar and hopped off, regretting as she landed on her heels. "Ack! Feet! Stupid heels."  
"Shoosh," Lebreau said as quietly rushed into the back room. At the back of the room, a silver bike was squeezed behind a small table and two plastic chairs that filled the room.  
"This is the staff room?" Fang looked around and smiled at the cosy feeling it gave off. To one side there were small lockers and on the table coffee still steamed. "It's homey."  
"Right? We only really eat back here before we open so it's not much but it's nice." Lebreau said as she moved the chairs and wheeled the bike out. "Right so, what happened to it again?"  
Fang huffed and pulled one of the chairs out as she sat down, shivering in horror as she remembered the wreck that Lightning had brought into the garage. "So first it was shot up by bank robbers and then it got ran over on the highway or something."  
Lebrea stared at Fang in disbelief and looked back to the pristine bike in her hands. "Well given that it went to hell, killed the doom guy and came back I used as much of the original parts as I could. You know you should be really glad someone just happened to have a wrecked Fireblade sitting around. It looked terrible."  
"I know."  
"No Fang I mean it was a mess. The entire chassis was riddled with bullets and if it wasn't custom then I would have just told you to throw it and just get one of the new velocycles, it would have been cheaper you know."  
"Would you ride one of those things?"  
Lebreau shook her head. "Of course not, those things are a crime against motorcycles. By the way, I am billing you dinner for this, this kind of thing isn't easy to do anymore."  
Fang threw her arms around Lebreau, squeezing the life out of her. "Ah! Lebreau you're the best. I love you!"  
"Alright alright, jeez. Anyway, I'm happy to get my hands dirty for you. You wouldn't believe how overjoyed I was when I finally got it back in one piece and it started."  
Fang gave the woman a deadpan stare. "Lebreau, you've been messaging me about it about for the last three days!" Fang grumbled and as the bartender scratched her head and laughed.  
"Well hey, you didn't answer me back so. Oh and before I forget here." Lebreau grabbed the keys off the table and hung them in front of Fang. " Go tell that girlfriend of yours not to get the beauty shot up again."

Lightning raised her foot as she leant against the wall, stopping as she looked down to her feet, remembering the heels she dropped her foot back down. "Right." She mumbled to herself quietly as she put a cigarette in between her lips. Hanging her head Lightning rolled her eyes as she dug through the purse she had borrowed from Fang for her lighter. Of course it's not here. Lightning cursed herself, she had worn her work jacket so often that it had become like a second skin. Looking back inside, a pang of guilt shot through her. Still running away from my problems huh.  
The door opened and Lightning looked up to the bartender who held out a lighter.  
"Dresses are terrible for pockets right?"  
"Ah Tifa, thanks. Sorry about walking out like that, old habits I guess."  
"I didn't peg you for the type to run away from a fight."  
Lightning shook her head. "No, just the stupid ones, usually involving stupid people."  
Tifa lit Lightning's cigarette and stuffed the lighter back in her pocket. "Ouch."  
"Sorry."  
"Nah I'm the one who should apologise. I forget sometimes that not everyone in my bar can drink me under the table. It 's actually rare to see someone so bad-ass who can't drink." Tifa chuckled and stood beside her. "Sorry."  
Lightning took a drag of her cigarette and blew out smoke rings. "Guess I just never had time to drink."  
"Your sister right?" Tifa cut in, catching Lightning's attention.  
The bartender raised her hand and pointed back inside. "Sorry if I'm prying, it's just you're not the only one who can't hold her liquor. She puts on a show too you know, what an idiot. But she's pretty cute huh?" Tifa laughed and nudged Lightning. The woman's stout atmosphere crumbled into a chuckle. "Yeah. She is." Lightning said softly as she looked through the window at Lebreau and Fang sneaking back to the bar, smiling as Fang nearly tripped over one of the stools as she hopped back over the counter.  
"Ah." Tifa recoiled and stared in shock, her face widening into a smile. "You actually smile, I mean it's super cute too."  
"Heh... Please." Lightning turned away so the woman couldn't see the colour flooding to her cheeks. "Aww, you're so cute! I could just pinch your cheeks all day missy!" Tifa stretched her arms in front of her with a crack.  
It was rare that Lightning went out with her legs exposed and it would seem that it was having an effect on her. With a sigh, Lightning managed to get her cigarette back in her mouth and muster some air of coolness. Stuttering, Lightning turned to Tifa and managed to speak. "Bartenders really are scarier than I thought." Lightning mumbled and looked to Tifa, her eyes fixed on the legs that extended from the short black shirt.  
Tifa cracked her knuckles and nodded. "Yep. Someone's gotta deal with the drunks and that's not really Lebreau's speciality. Hand her a glass and she'll make the best damn drink you've ever had but when a drunken idiot spills over the bar then that's when I take over."  
"Tifa if you don't mind me asking how did you two meet?"  
"Hmm?" Tifa put a finger to her lip as she thought. "The legality is questionable. Promise to keep it a secret?" Tifa said, leaning over with ample view of her bust.  
"Uhh sure. I left my handcuffs in my jacket anyway." Lightning said smugly.  
"Well, then that's good enough for me. It was a few years ago now, see before I became the gorgeous bartender you know and love today. I was a boxer."  
Figured as much. The framed articles of Tifa hadn't gone unnoticed by Lightning when she was cowering from their teasing, that and her eyes ran over the subtly sheen of muscle in her arms and legs.  
"... and so here I was stuck in the pouring rain, standing beside the rental car that broke down in the middle of nowhere to top it off and I mean you'd think I'd run over a horde of black cats with the luck I was having. Thankfully I had a nice twenty-year-old bottle of Bodhum Scotch with me to wait it out but as I pulled out the cork something hit my ears." Tifa crossed her arms and spun around. "My knight in shining armour, well more a stolen car but there she was, Lebreau. The idiot pulled over and gave me a lift to the city and that is how I spent my first night in Pulse, drinking scotch in a stolen car with a criminal. At least you weren't assisting a felon when you and Fang got together." "You've got me there. So wait a minute, that means Lebreau is a criminal at large?"  
The bartender winked and zipped her mouth. "You promised, remember."  
"But despite knowing that, you still saw her again?"  
"Of course. Well actually she came and saw me but that's not the point. Lightning that's what we're here for. You're perfect for that idiot inside and now you better get in there and save her before Lebreau ruins that dress of hers. "  
"Mmm." Lightning nodded and tossed the butt of her cigarette down and Tifa extinguished it under her boots. That was one thing she could agree on that.

"Hey if you're ever looking for work and if being bad-ass and fighting monsters gets tiring, then I could always use an extra hand in my bar." Tifa turned to the door, stopping she looked over her shoulder and winked. "If you take me up on the offer I could help you down your liquor, with a discount."  
"Right I'll keep it in mind. But for now I think I've got an idiot to save." Lightning looked inside to Fang and Lebreau who were waving stools around dangerously in the middle of what seemed to be a shouting contest.

"Claire!" Serah squealed as she rushed over, circling Lightning like a vulture with a hand firmly planted on her chin. "Hmm. Mmm. Mm?" Lightning squirmed and looked to Vanille for help, unfortunately, the redhead was disposed with her phone at that moment. " It looks pretty good considering."  
"Serah! Just what is that supposed to mean?" Lightning frowned and crossed her arms as she retreated backwards.  
"What is means Claire is that it's finally good to see you in something other than your jacket." Serah shuddered in horror at the thought of seeing that Guardian Corp jacket ever again.  
Lightning rolled her eyes. "Serah that jacket is the result of extensive field testing and science. Not only does it have tough fabric, deep pockets and is great for temperature protection. It also has layers of kevlar weaved inside of it."  
"God it's ugly," Serah stated flatly. "But that dress is really nice, it's a start. There's still hope for you after all." Serah said dramatically earning a sigh from the older Farron.  
Leaning to the side Serah waved to Tifa who was dressed a tad more casual with the bartender donning a white suit and a red tie instead of a dress.  
"So I finally get to meet Lightning's little sister. Damn, all you Farrons are cute." Tifa held her hand out to Serah. "Tifa Lockheart, sorry I couldn't make Halloween last year."  
Serah gripped her hand and shook it. "Serah Dia. So what happened anyway?"  
Tifa exhaled and shook her head. "Vanille's wife too! Oh, the bartender I had organised to handle the bar for the night called in, his sister got in an accident so I let him go for the night."  
"Aww, that's terrible. Is she okay?"  
Tifa nodded. "Yep she got rushed to hospital with but it just turned out to be a sprained leg. She tripped down a set of stairs."  
"Jeez. But I mean if anything we could always just have the party at your bar this year right?"  
"Yeah I mean we got the space for it and all."  
"Wait." Serah looked around and scrunched her brows. "Where's Fang?"  
"Ah! Well umm, she and Lebreau had, something to do. So they said they'd come a little later."  
Serah huffed and crossed her arms. "I just hope they don't go and fall down stairs."  
"Urgh knowing those two idiots, they'll throw themselves down the stairs just to spite us." Tifa laughed with Serah who looked grim at the possibility of it happening. Looking up she looked to Lightning who was standing alone and grinned. "Hey. What are you doing there all by yourself Lightning?"  
Serah nodded and grabbed Lightning's hand. "Right come on it's a girls night out, and you're looking at the first place winner for the rally." Serah flashed a toothy grin and spoke loudly. "Claire I finally beat Caius! So let's go get a table and celebrate while we wait for Fang then. Vanille, you coming?"  
"Huh oh yeah." Vanille fumbled with her phone and stuffed in her pocket. "Sorry guess I sorta spaced out there. Oops." Vanille giggled and hurried over, taking Serah's other hand in her own. "Let's go shall we."  
"Mmm if it's okay with you Miss Dia."  
"Of course, Mrs Dia."Vanille rolled her eyes and squeezed Serah's hand. "You can lead the way honey." The trio hurried inside, leaving Tifa outside. The bartender giggled herself at the scene and huffed as she followed in after them. Rolling her lighter in her hand. "Oh to be young."

"Finally! Fang do you know how late you were? Lightning say something." Serah turned to Lightning furious, the tiny woman had a glare that rivalled Lightnings. Fang and Lebreau had managed to arrive a whole half hour late with scratches all over them too. "You didn't fall down stairs did you?"  
Fang coughed and choked. "What, uh no I uh forgot to tie my shoelaces, I'm just terrible for it." Fang laughed nervously in the face of the younger Farron's glare.  
Serah pushed herself on her toes and exhaled slowly. "Oerba Yun Fang do I need to remind you that you are wearing heels."  
"And that is why I tripped down the stairs. See I forgot to put em on and got halfway to the restaurant in connies."  
"She looks good don't you think." Lightning just smiled as she rested her chin against her hands, watching Fang laugh and awkwardly shuffle towards her seat.  
"Right?" Fang said and slowly sat down. "I'm sorry Serah." The Pulsian put her hands on the table and bowed her head.  
Across from her, Serah sat down and huffed, earning a little fit of laughter from her wife. "You two are just terrible you know, and here I was hoping that Fang was going to be a good influence on you Claire."  
"That's just the way Fang is," Vanille said and nudged her wife playfully.  
"I know." Serah groaned and turned to Vanille.  
The redhead rolled her eyes at Fang. "Always doing things her way and we know she's too stubborn to change. Trust me I've been trying all my life."  
"So what you're saying is that..."  
"Yep." Vanille looked to Serah and smiled as they spoke in unison. "They're both useless. Perfect for each other."  
"We're right here you know?" Lightning and Fang responded, glaring at the duo before Serah and Vanille giggled to themselves. Lightning's eyes darted up from the steak she was prodding when suddenly she felt Fang's lips pressed softly against her cheek. Lightning lost herself as she stared into the loving emerald eyes.  
"Sorry, for being late. I uhh got kept back by something."  
Lightning looked at her for a moment, with her ears ringing and her heart in her throat. "No, it's, fine. I didn't mind waiting, after all, you always show up late, high heels or sneakers." Lightning's lips turned to a faint smile as she turned her focus back to prodding her steak.  
"Ah screw it. I'm no good with surprises and stuff anyway. I didn't go back to change my shoes Claire." Fang grumbled and reached into her purse, procuring a black box she put on the table in front of Lightning. "Well I uhh actually got this for you."  
Serah excitement practically climbed over the table as she squealed with her eyes fixed on it. One of the waiters rushed over and gave her a scolding about further audio outbursts. Embarrassed Serah sunk into her chair. "Is that? Fang you're... She's..."  
"Serah, please have some water." Vanille held her glass out to Serah while keeping her eyes on Fang. "So Fang is it what I think it is?"  
"Yep." Fang reached over and opened the box. "Have some faith in me alright little sis. You think I'd just pop the question like that?"  
"Yes." Serah sat flatly and rolled her eyes as she chugged down the water, you could nearly see the steam coming out of her ears. "Lightning would."  
Fang recoiled from the quick answer and sunk down in her chair. "I guess you're right."  
"Mmmhmm." Lightning nodded and shrugged. "I mean I don't see the reason in dressing it up. I'd just tell you when I'm ready."  
Fang looked to Lightning and fought back the urge to smother the woman in kisses. "Anyway Lightning I hope you like... it?"  
Lightning sniffed and shakily exhaled. Wiping the tears from her eyes she sniffled again and nodded. "I..." Lightning looked at her with watery cerulean eyes and the make-up running from the tears spilling down her cheeks. "Fang how could be so stupid. It must have cost a fortune. I couldn't even pay it off with my savings and yet you... You're so..."  
Fang nodded and leant over, softly wrapping her hands around Lightning's fists. "Stupid and careless?"  
"No, you're stupid and wonderful." Lightning sobbed quietly into Fang's shoulder as she pulled her tight. The waiter looked over and chose to let the group be for the moment.  
"And late too." Fang joked and got a look at Lightning's face.  
"You made me cry at dinner too. You're the worst." Lightning laugh trembled as wiped her eyes again. "Sorry Serah, I'm gonna go get some air."  
Serah looked at her sister with a happy expression on her face, it wasn't often that Lightning actually cried, especially not in public. The last time Lightning had cried would have been the months after they lost both their parents if she remembered correctly. "Claire it's fine." Watching her sister hurry out of the restaurant Serah turned her gaze to Fang and rolled her eyes. "Well, Fang? Go after her."  
"Ah, right." Fang stumbled to her feet and hurried out after Lightning.  
"Both utterly useless," Serah said and took another sip of her water.  
"At least dinner was different, who knew Lightning could be so cute. Besides Serah If I remember right you made me cry during our first date too, little heartbreaker." Vanille hummed and smooched Serah on the cheek. "I uh... You're stupid and wonderful too."  
Vanille giggled as she enjoyed the sight of Serah turning bright pink.  
"Vanille..."


	18. Chapter 18: Disk B - Claire

Wings Disk B – Claire Farron

Lightning snapped awake as Lightning tore the sky in apart. Flooding the room with blinding white light. She had apparently fallen asleep at her desk with paperwork towering over, yet try as she might she couldn't recall pulling the old all-nighter and staying back. In fact, the last thing she could remember was hours ago when everyone was running about before their shifts ended. Groaning in pain, Lightning brought a hand to her temples to ease the migraine that was wreaking havoc.  
"Whatever." Lightning said, shaking off the unease of the missing hours. Gently massaging her temples, she staggered over to the water fountain. With a scoff, she grabbed the crumpled paper cup and tossed in the trash. It really wasn't surprising why so many people spat at them and called them pigs, just look at the place. Sure they were busy but that didn't explain the cups of coffee spilt over the floor and trails of paperwork scattered about.  
Quickly drinking her cup of water, Lightning winced as another bolt of thunderstruck.  
The pinkette's eyes widened at her phone flashing. Setting the paper cup safely on Aerith's desk she powered her phone on."What the hell?" Lightning was surprised to see an astounding amount of missed calls. Fourteen from Serah and seven from Fang. Lightning called her sister as quick as she could, nervously tapping her fingers against her desk as the call dialled out. If Serah was missing her calls then something was definitely up. Trying her sister again, Lightning's tapping grew louder and she bit her lip as the call went to the message bank. "Serah it's Claire, what's going on? Call me as soon as you get this."  
"Fang you better pick up." Lightning dialled the Pulsian and another flash of thunder sounded. First Serah now Fang, unfortunately, Lightning didn't have anyone else she could really call.

Throwing open the drawer of her desk, Lightning grabbed her ID Card and Locker Key. Her hand lingered over her standard issue handgun, forcing Lightning to sit frozen for a moment. At that moment it hit her. Last night Fang had forced her to sit through those cheesy ass horror games that she liked for some reason. Seriously zombies? What a bunch of childish nonsense. "It's not one of those stupid horror games Claire. Zombies don't exist." Lightning said, reassuring herself of the fact before she shut the drawer. The last thing she needed was to be carrying a gun around while she was jumpy. Speaking of jumpy. As if on cue another bolt of thunder filled the room with its booming roar. Lightning turned and scowled out the window, what the hell was with the weather tonight anyway. Whoever was behind it was quickly getting on her bad side. Could it be Vanille's attempt to harness thunder? Lightning considered the thought as she hurried across the room, her mind barely noticing the corpse behind, simply passing it off as a figment of her imagination when she stopped to find it gone. "Stupid horror games..." Lightning growled and made a note to throw them all out the window or burn them all. Pulling on the door, the locks inside the door held. Strangely, they were engaged. Moving over to the card reader she pressed her card to the shiny black surface and the red light turned green, a loud clicking sound reassuring her that the door had in fact unlocked.  
With a deep breath, Lightning forced her fear down and opened the door. To her annoyance, it had creaked as loud as it possibly could. Pausing in the doorway, her mind doubled back to the gun in her desk, nearly sending her back for it before she steeled herself.

Stepping outside Lightning's focus snapped to attention as she closed the door behind her. The hallway was a nightmare, in fact it was exactly the thing Lightning didn't want to sit through last night. It was empty, completely empty. Well except for the sound of Lightning's boots as she slowly made her way towards reception. Chairs were chaotically overturned about the room and the vending machines were overturned in front of the side doors. Looking down at her arm, Lightning scowled at the goosebumps that stuck up. The reception desk wasn't any better. Lightning looked around as she bent over and picked up the chair. Papers and coffee and blood? Lightning stopped and picked up the document that was spattered with blood. "I hope this isn't Chris' blood." Taking a segment of her shirt Lightning wiped the blood off the monitor and quickly opened the internet. If there was a world crisis because of Vanille then hopefully someone got a word out. Lightning hoped to herself as she searched for the web page. Annoyingly the screen just showed that stupid little dinosaur. Just her luck, the internet was out. Tensing her fist she considered punching it but as she readied herself for technological homicide her eyes caught onto an officer lying near the overturned vending machines. Quickly rising from the desk she hurried over. Her fear of zombies had her eyeing the large gash on his chest as she approached. "Hey are you okay? What happened?" Riots, it had to be riots or something. Lightning knelt beside him and her happiness at human contact faded. A good amount of the man's blood was pooled underneath him. He was dead.  
Reaching down, Lightning snatched up the man's radio.  
"This is Sargent Farron of the Bodhum city police department is anyone out there?" Lightning gripped the radio as she walked back towards the reception desk. "I repeat this is..."  
"Farron?" Sazh's voice whirred over the radio on the reception desk. "Lightning is that you?"  
Lightning's nerves settled. "Yes it's me. Sazh what's going on?"  
"I dunno it's all a bunch of crazy stuff. Corpses are walking the streets. The Guardian Corp soldiers that tried to contain whatever it is are in a mess."  
"Right. Where are you?"  
"My workshop."  
Lightning sighed in relief. "Alright is Fang there?"  
"Nah she headed out to check on things. Said she wanted to check on you."  
"Shit." Lightning cursed, guilty for missing so many of her calls. "I missed a dozen of her calls. Lightning turned and dropped the radio. Barely staggering back before the dead officer from before grabbed her. Rolling to the side, she dodged another lunge and watched the zombie. Lightning huffed at it addressing the monster as so and watched it collide with the desk.  
"Lightning? You there?" Sazh's voice called from the radio on the floor and drew the zombie's attention away from Lightning. Not for long though, as the lifeless grey eyes limped towards her.  
"Alright it's very funny now stop this. I'm not in the mood for this crap." Lightning glared at the zombie who hadn't even registered her as anything but food. "Fine." Lightning narrowed her eyes. With ease she turned the officer's weight on himself and throwing him into the ground. Slamming her knee into his back, she drew his firearm and pressed it to the back of his head. "Cut the crap asshole."  
The zombie got up as if Lightning weighed as much as a feather. With a sharp inhale Lightning levelled the gun and fired three rounds through its chest. The casings chimed as they hit the floor with the zombie. Crap, oh crap. Lightning frowned as the zombie staggered to its feet. Firing again, the zombie staggered back with a hole in its chest and fell on the desk. Remaining still for a moment before it flashed it's bloodied teeth and started getting up again. Grabbing the radio Lightning ignored the zombie that lurched towards her. "Sazh you there?"  
"Yeah. What happened?"  
Lightning looked over her shoulder to the zombie following her. "The, thing. I ran into one of them."  
"You mean the zombies."  
Zombies, god damn zombies! It could have been behemoths or goblins or Vanille clones, why did it have to be zombies? "Sazh please don't call them zombies." Lightning clipped the radio on her belt as she eyed the vending machines blocking the way to the locker rooms. She was not moving them. Which also meant that her monster-slaying baby was stuck behind them as well. Looking down to the handgun she drooped her head, it wasn't the same. "Sazh I'm going to look for Fang. Do you know how to kill these things?" Lightning cast her glance over to the zombie and watched it trip over a chair.  
"A shotgun blast to the face seems to be working."  
The brains, of course. Lightning rolled her eyes at how stupid this all was. "Headshots, thanks." Lightning said and shot the zombie in the head. To her surprise, it actually worked. "Huh, headshots actually work. Alright, I won't be too long."  
"Right you take care."  
"I will, and you just hold tight." Lightning clipped the radio back on her belt and hurried to the front doors. Unlocking them with her keycard before she gave them a swift kick and stepped out with her gun ready. "Damn you Fang." Lightning whispered as she stepped down the stairs, cursing the Pulsian for the outbreak. Stepping around the corpses on the stairs. After the monster inside the police station, she wasn't taking any chances. Hell if she had more than four bullets she'd go as far as shooting them in the head.  
The city was in utter chaos. Squad cars left empty, buildings broke into and worst of all, the blood that filled the gutters. Safer behind the large iron gates of the Guardian Corp headquarters, Lightning grabbed her phone and called Fang again, hardly surprised as it went to the message bank. "Fang it's Lightning. Meet at my apartment if you get this. If you can't I'm going to Serah's house afterwards. Be careful Fang and go for headshots."

Lightning leapt up and grabbed onto the railing of the fire escape. Sure it was a hike up to her floor but it was better than being stuck inside with who knows how many of the monsters were inside. Also Lightning would rather not shoot her landlord, it wasn't the best thing to have when she'd be needing a new apartment after all of this. Twenty minutes later Lightning had

reached her apartment without breaking a sweat either. Taking her gun Lightning smashed the window and unlocked it. Sliding it open she slipped inside. Flicking on her flash-light, Lightning raised her gun. Her apartment was a mess and there was a zombie with a kitchen knife sticking out of its skull. With an empty breath, she grabbed her phone and called Fang's number. Shivering as Fang's ringtone sounded from the bedroom. Flicking on the lights she slowly approached the bedroom. "Fang? Are you in there?" With her heartbeat in her throat, she slowly turned the door and pushed it open. The trial of blood was unsettling, to say the least. "Fang?" Lightning carefully leant in and flicked the lights on. "Fang?"

Lightning tensed up as Fang appeared from behind the bed. Her arms were covered in bite marks and blood. "Fang..." Lightning exhaled and adjusted the gun in her hands. "Fang don't do this." Lightning said and backed up. With a gulp, she bumped into the wall behind her and stared into the grey eyes that limped towards her. "FANG!" Lightning shouted and fired, the bullet whizzing past Fang's head. Taking a shaky breath she fired again, the bullet dropping Fang to her knees as the bullet tore through her leg. "Fang, stop. Fang."  
Zombie Fang did not stop. Instead, she got closer and closer to Lightning, her cold dead hands nearly touching the woman's face. Feeling her gun press against the inside of Fang's mouth Lightning whimpered. Forcing her eyes shut she pulled the trigger.

Fang shot up. Looking around, her tanned skin was soaked with sweat and every bone in her body cried out in agony. Something terrible was happening, something world ending. Scrambling out of bed Fang grabbed the closest thing to her and sprinted out into the lounge room. Kicking the door open and rolling out in combat stance with an alarm clock in her hands. Fang shouted at her girlfriend who was horrifyingly wielding a knife. "What's going on?" Fang looked to Lightning who looked like utter crap.  
Lightning had heavy bags under her eyes and was mercilessly stabbing... "LIGHTNING WHY? THAT'S LIMITED EDITION!" Fang leapt to the rescue of the video game and snatched it before it joined its brothers in the pile of broken CDs. Lightning looked up. Her cheeks wet with tears as she dropped the knife and threw her arms around Fang. Sobbing as she cried into her shoulder. "Fang, you're alive."  
"Uh, yeah," Fang said and just pat Lightning on the head. "Why wouldn't I be?" ****

 **A/N: Yay resident evil! And what great timing with all the resident evil 2 remake hype. Monsters and evildoers, Lightning can handle daily. But terrible horror cliche's and damn zombies is definitely something Fang would use to tease Lightning over. Oh and don't worry, the Dia Corporation has any and all viral outbreaks under complete control, definitely.**


	19. A run in with Deja Vu

A run in with deja vu

Lightning groaned as she pulled herself out of the clutches of her bed. Rubbing her eyes she looked around and frowned at the lack of Fang. Usually, the woman was propped up beside her, watching Lightning as she slept. Lightning had grown accustomed to waking up to those loving emerald eyes every morning.  
The couple's plans for lunch and coffee when Lightning woke up were ruined when Fang got called into work. Fang not wanting to wake Lightning on her day off, crept out while she was asleep. So there Lightning was, sitting hesitantly underneath the whirring of her fan. Staring expectantly at her phone. Surely someone would call her, either Serah wanting to drag her around somewhere or a monster invasion to the City. Hell, what about the Tuxedo Mask Gang? Lightning knew that a few of them got away after the last stunt they pulled at the bank, including their second in command, Silver. Taking a deep breath, Lightning carefully inched herself towards the edge of the bed, slowly sliding down the side while keeping her gaze locked on her phone, like a cat staring down its prey. She pounced! Scooping it up she flicked the answer button and pressed her phone to her ear.  
"Yeslightningfarron!"  
Aerith audibly inhaled on the other side of the call and laughed. "Alright. Morning Lightning."  
"Oh. Morning Aerith. So what's invading the city now?"  
"Well actually just me invading your desk."  
"Oh." Lightning said rather disheartened, stupid city not having troubles on her day off.  
"Yep. Hey isn't it your day off anyway?"  
Lightning slumped down and nodded. "Yeah."  
"So what are you gonna do? Oh wait, lemme guess. That Pulsian girlfriend of yours has something planned? Candle lit dinner? Motorbike ride across the beach in the moonlight?"  
Is that what romance was supposed to be like? Lightning scoffed at the idea, especially considering both women owned road bikes, not dirt bikes. And as far as their romance went, it was a mess of scowling, grunting and the occasional suggestive look that led to further scowling and grunting. "No she got called into work earlier so I'm spending the day alone. Actually Aerith would it be possible if I could borrow some of those trashy romance books you read?"  
"Ahem. Lightning you are sorely mistaken. Those books are the finest romance novels in existance and... I'll leave a few on your desk. Oh, want me to read you the blurb of one right now?" Aerith deepened her voice as she began. "Damascus wrapped his bold arms around Kataya. She moaned as his hands traced her thighs, begging..."  
"You know what never mind that. Thanks, gotta go." Before Aerith could say another word, Lightning hung up. Falling to the ground she took a moment and stared up at the high ceiling as it settled in. She really had nothing to do today. Flinging open the wardrobe Lightning dug through the small section dedicated to her clothes while the larger part of the storage cried and wailed, begging to be filled with garments that she would never wear. Grabbing a sweatshirt and a pair of track pants, Lightning settled on a run. Anything to get her out of her apartment.

Lightning sighed in relief as she stepped outside into the mid-day sun. With the year drawing closer to Christmas the temperature had taken a dive and was surprisingly pleasant despite the sun hanging overhead. It was definitely more pleasing than Lightning's surroundings, which were still new to her. Not that she was ever one to sit still long enough to just enjoy the view. The expanse of sparkling towers, the manicured streets and the picture perfect gardens that surrounded her home. Honestly it was a little alienating. Lightning hadn't wasted any money that came her way during her whole life. Not with the looming bill for Serah's college fee's in front of them. A part of her died as she remembered all the late nights and early morning she's spent working, training and working some more just to get her little sister into university. Then not even a year later Serah ups and drops out to take on a contract for a motorsports team. But then it again that made Lightning the odd one out. Her parents were both racers, her grandparents too. If things hadn't happened as they did then Lightning probably would have found herself strapped in the cockpit of one of those death traps as well.

Looking around Lightning's let a scowl settled at the edges of her mouth, her drifting had led her astray in the forest of grey towers. Not that it wasn't exciting, getting lost in the city was something she'd loved when she was younger in her free time. Losing herself from all the worries and troubles heaped on the shoulders of a teenage orphan during the aftermath of the war. It was actually surprising how many Pulsians were in the city given it had barely a decade since they were intent on levelling everything in sight. Not that Lightning wasn't happy with the change, because she was very happy indeed that Fang's people no longer wanted world domination. Lightning stopped and narrowed her eyes, glaring at the sight of a young girl staring down a car from the shadows. A grey hoodie hid her face as she moved towards it and retrieved her tools of the trade. Casting a watchful glance around before she started. Lightning sighed in relief, she'd manage to hid thanks to her quick reflexes. Spying around the corner from where she stood, Lightning scowled and watched the car door pop open, she was good. Taking a deep breath Lightning stepped out and began approaching the girl. In an instant the brown eyes were locked on Lightning from the darkness of her hood, watching everything about Lightning as she decided whether to drop her prize and run. Sucking her teeth the thief decided to play it cool and rest against the car, the woman approaching her looked poor and didn't walk with the disciplined stride of a Guardian Corp officer. Taking her phone she sent a text to her partner to pick up the car, a pang of shame washing over her as she remembered the scolding she got after her last attempt to drive a car, let alone drive stick. Her eyes looked up to the pink haired woman who passed her without a word, the thief's gaze lingering for a moment until the woman stopped. The thief stuffed their phone in their pocket and was ready to run.  
Lightning turned around and smiled. "Not gonna make off with it?"  
The thief cocked her head. "It's my father's car. I'm waiting for him, he's inside."  
"Aha." Lightning stepped towards the thief and smirked. "Don't worry I'm off duty."  
"You're a cop?"  
"You couldn't tell?" Lightning looked at the woman who shrugged. Lightning pointed to the car, quite an expensive car to add. "You got a buyer for that? It looks like it'd be worth quite a bit. Hard to believe a teenager could fence it."  
"I already told you, it's my father's car."  
Lightning looked at the woman's clothes and shook her head. The thief looked poor not rebellious. "You don't look like a rich girl." Especially not with the worn out runners she was wearing and the holes in her jeans.  
"Neither do you."  
Lightning huffed at the stab at her apparel. "You got me. You know you could walk away from the car, it'd save me a lot of paperwork."  
The thief frowned and looked down at her phone. A smirk widened across her face as her phone vibrated in her hand. "Well I hope you run faster than you can talk!" The thief rolled across the bonnet of the car and sprinted through traffic into the alley across the road.  
Lightning had nothing better to today, but she never considered she'd be chasing her childhood self. Huh, talk about deja vu. With a groan, Lightning started after her.

* * *

Sprinting through the garbage and trash cans, the teenage Lightning threw her bag over the fence and leapt up, nearly clearing it as her arms reached the top and pulled her the rest of the way. Risking a grin at the officer chasing her as she scooped up her bag and hurried off. That grin faded at the sounds of clanging lids, the officer leapt off of the dumpster and sailed across the fence. Tucking into a roll as she landed, the officer gave Lightning a smirk of her own. Lightning turned and bolted through traffic, nimbly dodging around traffic and into another set of buildings on the other side. She just had to make it out of this neighbourhood and into the slums and she'd be fine. But the slums were nearly six kilometres away. Lightning pulled her bag tight and pressed on, the relentless sounds of boots falling behind her signalled that her pursuer was more in shape than she had expected and gaining on her quickly, especially for a doughnut eating cop. Taking another deep breath Lightning jump up to a fire escape and hurried upwards. Lightning had spent the last week scoping the area out for situations just like this, Reaching the top of the fire escape she pulled herself up to the roof and hurried over to the other side. Just a few metres over the fall to her death another ladder dropped down to the ground. Hopefully the cop had taken the bait. Bingo. Lightning turned to the woman chasing after her, her green eyes filled with fear for what was going to happen next.  
"Stop!" The officer called out to Lightning, hurrying towards her, all too aware of what the thief was planning.  
The pink haired thief turned and bolted towards the edge of the building, a small amount of fear building in the pit of her stomach as she neared the edge, she'd done the jump a dozen times or so but never with a cop on her tail. Ah screw it, Lightning thought as she leapt from the edge of the building and reached out to grab the ladder. Oh crap, Lightning forgot that she'd never made the jump with all her stuff as well. Her eyes widening as the ground approached faster than she had anticipated. With luck her arm managed to catch the ladder, slamming her body into it. The blow threatening to break her ribs. With a painful groan, Lightning slid down to the ground and dropped onto her back in pain. Pulling herself to her feet she managed to get moving again. "To the subway and I'm home free." Lightning muttered to herself, managing a smile at her feat of acrobatics.

The sudden click of handcuffs drew her attention up to the utterly furious green-eyed officer who kicked Lightning's feet out from under her. Pressing her palm into Lightning's chest the officer slammed her into the ground. "You little pain in the ass! What would you do if you hadn't made that stupid jump huh? And for what?" Lightning groaned from the added pain in her ribs, glaring up at the woman who dug through her things. The woman brandished the stolen cans of food and frowned.  
"Food! You nearly killed yourself over food?" The officer dropped her face in her hand and sighed. Grabbing Lightning's arm, she pulled the teenager to her feet. "Right kid, you're returning these."  
"Like hell I will." Lightning snarled and kicked at the woman's feet, who stepped aside and sent Lightning back to the ground.  
Adding insult to injury, the officer actually laughed at her. "Right then would you rather I take you down to the station? Theft, resisting arrest and now assaulting an officer are all pretty serious crimes you know."  
"Fine, I'll return it."  
" Good but 'we' will return it. Officer Gainsborough." Aerith pulled Lightning to her feet and grinned.  
"I didn't ask for your name."  
"I was really just asking for yours."  
Lightning scowled at the woman, tempted to try another escape. "Well too bad, you're not getting it."  
"Have it your way." Aerith smiled as she turned Lightning and pulled her away from the direction of the store the teenager had just pulled over. "To the slammer with you!" Aerith sang and grinned, maliciously.  
"Fine! It's Lightning."  
Aerith stopped and looked her over with her green eyes. "Lightning? Pretty weird name if you ask me."  
"No one's asking you so just take this shit back and leave me alone." Lightning growled and moved in the opposite direction, her wrist hurting as the handcuffs pulled into her skin.  
"So... Lightning, you uhh steal food often?" Aerith asked, spying a glance the thief. She had to barely in her teens. It broke her heart to see someone so young resorting to crime. The woman had to be at least a year younger than Aerith, two at most. The joy drained from the rookie officer's face as she walked with Lightning.  
"Why? You gonna arrest me for that too? Get a nice shiny promotion or something?"  
"Nope." Aerith huffed and crossed her arms, disappointed that she was being lugged in with the dirty bastards that took bribes and looked the other way... wait a minute, she was dirty! Another sigh in despair escaped her.  
The pain in Lightning's side sent her collapsing to the ground, the stupid handcuffs pulled that stupid woman down with her. "Ahh fuck! Get off of me asshole!" Lightning frowned at Aerith who stumbled and landed on top of her. Aerith jumped back on her feet, her face heavy with concern, again.  
"Oh god are you okay?"  
Lightning fought back the wince and ragged breathing as pain shot through her chest. "Yeah, I just tripped."  
"You didn't manage to trip into a pile of soap with that dirty mouth of yours did you?" Lightning's scowl deepened, breaking into a wince as she rose to her feet again. "You sure you're okay?"  
"I'm fine."  
Aerith puckered her lips and watch Lightning limp a step ahead of her. With a frown tugging at her cheeks she stepped forward and gave Lightning a little bump in the side of her ribs. The pink haired thief went down like a sack of bricks. "You trip again?"  
"I will kill you mother fucker!" Lightning lunged at the woman with her fist at the ready but Aerith's hands wrapped around the woman and held her gently.  
"Shush you shouldn't be walking with broken ribs idiot. Here sit down." Aerith guided Lightning to a chair and forced her to sit. Digging into her pocket she freed her phone from the abyss and called someone, impatiently tapping her fingers against her pants as she waited for the call to go through.  
"Hi! Yes it's officer Gainsborough. Yes sir. No sir. I need to call in a favour? No sir. Yes sir. A whole weeks dinner?" Aerith face exploded into a mess of anguish and horror. "Fine. I need a lift to the nearest hospital. No I'm fine. Thank you sir." Aerith stuffed her phone in her pocket and slumped down Lightning. All the life in her seemingly drained from her.  
"Who was that?" Lightning managed to ask without as much of usual grumble.  
Aerith took a moment to register the thief talking to her and another moment to gather the energy to respond. "That was my superior. I called him to drive you to the hospital."  
Lightning glared at Aerith, she'd rather take broken ribs over jail time. "What about the food?"  
"Ehh who cares about it. I'm already a dirty cop anyway." Aerith sniffled and slumped over in her lap and let the rest of her soul drain out in her jeans. "A week's worth of food, that bastard stole a week's worth of food from me." Aerith sat back up and looked at Lightning. "Oh damn, you're actually really cute!" Aerith smiled at the sight of Lightning with her hood down, revealing the mess of short pink hair underneath and the blushes forming across her cheeks.  
"Don't be gross loser."  
"You're the one going red in the face. SO umm how old are you?"  
Lightning rolled her eyes at the woman and shifted beside her. "Seventeen."  
"That young? I'm two years older than you. So you run away from home or something?"  
"My parent's are dead. It's only me and my sister now."  
"Oh." Aerith sank a little. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must be hard especially after the war."  
Lightning scoffed and crossed her arms. "You wouldn't believe it. Nobody wants to hire a dumb orphan girl."  
"Grrr! Screw them all, stupid bunch of oldies!" Aerith gasped and slammed her hand down in her fist in realisation. "I got it. You may be incredibly stupid but you move like crazy. What if you joined the Guardian Corp?"  
"Me? A slimy fucking cop? You got to be shitting me."

* * *

The car thief squirmed in Lightning's grasp, her fingers pointlessly clawed at Lightning's wrist. "Settle down before I throw you in cuffs." Lightning scowled, happy that the girl stopped. "Now what were you doing stealing a car? I mean you've got to be what sixteen?"  
The thief pouted and scoffed. "Jeez I'm seventeen. What are you, blind and dumb? Besides who cares what I was going to do with it. The owner would just buy another the next day anyway."  
"But grand theft auto is a tad more severe than stealing food."  
The thief gulped and tried to pull her wrist free. "How the hell did you know about that? You been following me you sick pig?!"  
"Pfft! No absolutely not. When I was your age I robbed stores instead of cars. Lifting merchandise is much easier than lifting a whole car. You get more buyers and less suspicion. I stole food for my sister. What do you steal for?"  
"Why the hell would I tell you? You gonna get a promotion of something."  
Deja vu, huh. "I am off duty so I don't actually have handcuffs and I'd rather not have to go to work on my day off. I could call in my partner, though I should warn you she's not as... gentle as I am." Lightning laughed at how everyone always thought Lightning was the cold and cruel officer of the duo. Having seen Aerith under pressure, peering under the bubbly cute mask she wore scared the utter crap out of Lightning.  
"I'm running away, from this whole stupid town. Nobody wants to hire an orphan and I don't have anywhere else to go." The thief's face finally showed something other than teenage anger, the brown of her eyes nearly spilling over with tears. "WHY DID THEY HAVE TO DIE DAMMIT!" The thief sobbed and threw her arms around Lightning, much to the Farron's surprise. Lightning slowly put her arms around the girl, unsure of what do do. What was she supposed to do? What did she say? Sure she was an orphan too but she never broke down and cried, did she? At least not in public right? Putting her own feelings aside Lightning managed a reassuring smile. "What's your name?"  
The thief sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Claire, Claire Darrows."  
"Huh, my name's Claire too, just call me Lightning though alright. Well Claire, you ever think about joining the Guardian Corp?"  
Claire frowned and looked over her shoulder. "Become a stupid cop? Of course not."  
Lightning glared at the woman for calling her stupid again. "Says the one who got caught."  
"You're too fast."  
Lightning shrugged, it was true. "Well I didn't get fast by stealing cars. Look what I wanna say is, Guardian Corp isn't just a job. It's education, training and discipline as well. You'd have a job, a house and a family as well."  
"A family?" Claire muttered and bit her lip at the tender feeling the words left in her chest.  
"That's right, you'd study and train with other people your age, who come from similar situations as yours."  
Claire sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Fine if you'll stop bothering me about it. There's just one other thing, I have a uh, friend, I want them to come with me. If I go so do they, alright?"  
"Sure." Lightning shrugged and released the thief from her grip. "Do you wanna pick em up now? I got the day off so I can take you through the whole process for you if you want."  
Claire accidentally smiled, quickly crossing her arms and pulling her hood down to hide it. "Yeah whatever, stupid ass cop. They live on the other side of town so..."  
Lightning nodded and grabbed out her phone. "Gotcha, I'll call a friend to give us a lift." A friend with a car, a friend with a car... Of course it'd be her. Lightning winced as she dialled Serah's number.  
"Serah, hey. Yes I know it's my day off, no I'm not calling to cancel Halloween this year. Actually, I need a lift, and can you bring a car for four. No they're not criminals, fine they're sort of criminals. Just stop complaining and help me alright. Think of it as repayment for all the times I had to crawl under your bed for monsters." Lightning groaned as hung up and stuffed her phone back in her pocket. So much for her day off.

Letting the door slam shut a little louder than she had wanted, Lightning managed to drag herself to the couch before she collapsed over the arm of the chair. Fang groaned as the woman landed in her lap. "Hello to you too Sunshine."  
Lightning's eyed widened and she shot up. "Oh crap. I'm sorry Fang. I didn't see you."  
"It's fine." Fang giggled and took Lightning's hands, pulling her back down beside her. With a content little sigh, Lightning nestled in beside her. "So how was your day off?"  
"I was dragged across the city by a car thief and then by Serah. Spent all of lunchtime just filling out Academy papers and application forms."  
"Ohh that sounds, good?" Fang said unsure from the exhausted look on Lightning's face.  
"Yeah..." Lightning yawned and snuggled into Fang's chest. "It was good." Lightning muttered as she dozed off. It was a little disappointing. Fang wanted to spend the day with Lightning doing nothing together and after having been called in earlier because one of the mechanics had an injury she'd only looked forward to the evening all the more. Putting on her best Vanille impression, Fang eyed Lightning and prodded her gently, digging her fingers through the pink curls. "And here we have the rare specimen, a sleeping Claire on my boobs. How sore will they get? Find out when she wakes up folks." Fang smiled despite the added weight on her chest. She had missed half of Lightning's day off but at least they had the evening to themselves. Fang eyed the door and nodded to it in appreciation as it remained shut.

* * *

 **A/N: Lazy sunday mornings are so good! I've recently had my Sunday mornings returned to me after years so I'm totally lost in what to do with them at the moment. But hey I wrote a thing on the thing so yeaaa... hh?**


	20. Chapter 20: Bikes and Alcohol

Wings  
Bikes and Alcohol

* * *

Lightning took a sip of her beer and set it back upon the coffee table. Turning her attention back to the motorcycle part she was working on she let out a content sigh, slowly but surely her CBR was coming back to life. It's just with a Guardian Corp salary... Lightning reached for her beer and cast a glance over to the clock in the kitchen, she groaned when she realised what time the time, '7:45'.  
Fang had sent her a text her earlier saying she was going out to Lebreau's for drinks after work but that had been at four in the afternoon, Lightning was still on duty for another hour so she had to pass although if she had to choose between babysitting Fang and playing with bike parts well then- Well who was she kidding, Lightning rolled her eyes knowing that she'd choose baby-sitting Fang almost every time.  
Lightning frowned and cursed herself for turning tail as soon as she saw the line-up for the bar. By the time she had changed out of her work uniform and gotten to the bar, the queue stretched around the block. But then again with Fang out with Lebreau, Lightning's apartment finally saw some much-deserved peace and quiet. No horror films on the tv and no rock music blasting from the stereo as Fang roped Lightning into dancing. Just the unusually loud cranking of the fan overhead that made the heat wave all the more sinister. Sweat beaded across Lightning's forehead and if she wasn't in the middle of delicate work then she'd actually get up and crank the fan up to it's highest to fight away the heat. So much for a white Christmas, apparently this year Cocoon decided to make up for all the missed heat in the last few months by cramming into all into one week.  
Lightning pulled at the tank top she was wearing and groaned as she finally decided against literally roasting in her apartment and put down what she was working on and grabbed the AC remote from the doorway, adding the soft hum of the air-conditioner to the room. Climbing back over the couch Lightning yawned and gave the clock another look. '7:55'.

A loud bang at the door brought Lightning's eyes up from the pillow where she had dozed off. Still half asleep, she groaned as her body booted up. Lightning knew it was Fang from the sound of the Pulsian accent cursing as she dropped her keys and the follow-up sound of Fang falling against the wall trying to get them. Lightning quickly hopped up and rushed to the bathroom to tidy her appearance, re-emerging with her hair pulled into a loose ponytail and her face washed.  
The sound of Fang's motorcycle boots echoed through the room as Lightning emerged fresh and wide-eyed, hurrying back to the couch to pick up what she working on. Lightning pretended to be busy but gave her attention to the sound of the approaching Pulsian's uneven footsteps and whatever she was softly humming. If her wobble was any indicator then Fang was either drunk or extremely tired and given that Lebreau was involved it likely the former.  
Fang settled behind the couch, putting her arms around Lightning's shoulders as she pressed a kiss to the back of her head. "Claire... Hey."  
"Hey." Lightning responded and winced at the heavy smell of whiskey that confirmed her previous suspicions. "How did Lebreau's go?"  
"Good..." Fang settled her head against Lightning's shoulder comfortably and forgot to continue, leaving Lightning in an awkward silence as she waited.  
"Fang?" Lightning asked softly, treading carefully as to not wake her partner.  
Fang puffed up her cheeks and exhaled and with what could only be explained as a miracle of drunken motor skills she climbed over the couch and took a new position next to Lightning, cuddling up against her side. "Yeah?"  
Lightning looked to Fang who was once again peacefully resting against her shoulder, making her tinkering a tad more difficult. "Do you want me to help you to the bedroom?"  
Fang shook her head and reached towards Lightning's arm, her hand going to her knee instead. "No I don't get to see you play with motorbike things any more. It's nice, reminds me of when we first met."  
Lightning couldn't fight back the soft hint of blushes that ran across her face. If she remembered right, Fang was working at the garage that was holding the replacement parts for her motorbike. She had gone to pick up the parts and ended up checking Fang's rear out instead. Then by some manner of luck, Fang turned out to be a friend of Serah's girlfriend and was invited to the date the very next day. After the two had dorked out over bikes, Fang had quite the impressive GSX, the two had taken their relationship from there. "Right I remember."  
"Heeh you really liked my ass back then." Fang snickered into Lightning's shoulder.  
"I still do." Lightning said teasingly and sat the motorcycle part she was holding down, giving up on getting any work done with Fang on her arm. "Alright let me up. I'm going to get you some painkillers." Lightning rolled her eyes as she had to pry Fang from her waist.  
"Pfssh you don't like my ass, you never check it out any more Sunshine! Why do you think I wear short shorts around the house all the time?" Fang shouted and fell down onto the couch. "Oi Lightning why are you working on motorcycle parts anyway? Did something break already?"  
"Well it's what I could afford, I'm putting the whole bike back together instead of buying a brand new one. It's how my dad built my first bike so I figured I should do it too." Lightning grabbed the painkillers from the cupboard and poured Fang a tall glass of water. Walking back to the couch she furrowed her brows as Fang downed the rest of Lightning's beer, god not that she needed any more alcohol in her system, and slumped down the length of the couch.  
"Ahh that hit the spot. That bubjub stuff Lebreau had tonight was blurgh ya know." Fang managed to sit upright and took the water without spilling it all over herself. "Thank you Claire, I'm glad I've got you to take care of me."  
"It's no problem Fang." Lightning said and looked away, even Fang in her drunken state could see the bright pink blobs forming on her cheeks.  
"Claire you can say it y'know. I mean you already know I think you're cute as hell."  
"Fang I think you're-"  
"Adorable?"  
"Yes and-"  
"Sexy?"  
"Sometimes and you're-"  
"Your cute wifey! Hehe." Fang giggled and stopped as she downed the glass of water and quickly popped the two painkillers to prevent her from having a head-splitting migraine the next morning.  
"And drunk." Lightning said flatly and took the glass from Fang. Putting it back in the kitchen, she returned and sat back next to Fang who was happy to return to using Lightning as a pillow again. Lightning closed her eyes and focused on Fang beside her, the smell of whiskey and wildflowers was pleasantly growing on her. "How much did you have anyway?" Lightning asked curiously.  
"Six-" Fang inhaled quite loudly and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "and a half." Fang turned, glaring at Lightning and poked her in the chest "Oi! So how is the bike Lebreau and I built for you?"  
"Wait what bike?" Lightning turned to Fang who had her eyes shut but still waved her hand to point to something.  
"You know the box I gave you when we had that dinner date with Serah and Van, the one everyone thought was an engagement ring. I put the CBR's keys in it because I wanted it to-"  
Lightning slapped her hand against her face and groaned. "Fang!" Lightning's shout startled Fang who looked at her with hazy emerald eyes. "I thought that was an engagement ring! You put- why?"  
"Well as I was sayin' Sunshine, I wanted it to be a surprise, like you know. Surprise!" Fang threw her hands up in the air. "That and I didn't just want to hand them to you, you loved that bike more than me." Fang huffed and squeezed Lightning's arm, glaring at her in jealousy. "If I was going to marry you I'd have to get you gifts and things and propose to you in some big silly dumb way to make you laugh. Hmm, I'd probably dress up real fancy or something and bring you flowers. You like flowers right?"  
Lightning hung her head and nodded. "I do." Rubbing her eyes she looked back to Fang. "Fang I've been terrified of that box for a month because I thought you wanted to take the next step with me and I don't know if-" Fang put a hand over Lightning's mouth and stopped her from rambling. Fang nearly poked Lightning in the eye as she moved to brush Lightning's hair away from her eyes. "Lightning I do want to take the next step with you but I'll say it now. No piece of paper is ever going to change the way I feel about you. Claire Farron, you never have to be ready and I want you to know that."  
"Fang." Lightning put a hand over Fang's mouth to block the smell of whiskey and frowned. "Fang you're drunk."  
"Yep I sure am." Fang said proudly and fell back into the arm of the chair. "That doesn't change how I feel about you either Claire, you know that."  
Lighting nodded and pressed her head down against Fang's. "I know it's just I'm- I need more time."  
"Alrighty then, while you keep me waiting will you be my girlfriend for life?" Fang looked to Lightning with a dopey drunken smile stretched across her face.  
"I will Fang." Lightning leant down, keeping her eyes on the emeralds that stared back at her as she pressed a kiss to the Pulsian's tanned Lips, Lightning let out a short groan as her mouth flooded with the taste of whiskey. "Fang let's got to bed."  
"Ooh I am getting laid." Fang said excitedly and grinned as she took Lightning's hand who lead her carefully across the apartment to the bedroom.  
Lightning pushed the door open and stumbled back, surprised as Fang kissed her, sending the couple toppling into the blankets of their bed. "You are if you can get your pants off." Lightning said and chuckled as Fang grinned cockily.  
"Oh just you wait and see Sunshine..."

Fang groaned and brushed her hair out of her face. The last thing she remembered was stumbling out of Lebreau's and then she was suddenly at Lightning's apartment. Looking around now she was certainly in Lightning's bedroom, although Lightning was strangely absent. Moving to stand up, Fang yelped as her pants caught around her knees and sent her crashing down onto the floor.  
A fit of laughter brought her gaze up to the door. Fang grinned as she looked at Lightning who was standing in the doorway, dressed in a T-shirt and a brown leather jacket over the top with motorcycle pants and boots on. "Morning Fang." She said and moved over to the bed.  
Fang groaned and wiggled into her pants before she tried standing up again. "Morning sunshine. Mind explaining why I'm on your floor with my pants around my ankles?"  
Lightning chuckled and rolled her eyes "You stumbled back here drunk last night from Lebreau's. You were actually quite embarrassing too, saying things like how you'd wait for me forever and that we were girlfriends for life."  
Fang coughed in embarrassment as pink assaulted her cheeks. "Oh god I was totally shit-faced, but Claire but I did mean it." Lightning's smiled widened as she grabbed the box from her bedside table. "You also finally told me what was in here." Lightning said and softly punched Fang in the shoulder. "Fang, you are sometimes so annoying you know?"  
Fang grinned and pulled Lightning close. "Mm I know, it's part of my charm."  
Lightning took a deep breath and couldn't help but smile as Fang put her arm around her waist and pressed kisses into her neck. "Well miss Charming you wanna go for a ride?"  
Fang bit her lip at the thought of Lightning on a motorcycle, it had been a while. "Sure it's my day off."  
"So you don't mind if you don't just spend it hungover?" Lightning asked and rolled her eyes as Fang just shook her head in response. Lightning put a hand on Fang's chest and gently nudged her over to the bathroom. "But shower first, you smell awful."  
Fang rolled her eyes and took a whiff, her face soured and she retched, she sure smelt like a mechanic alright. "Ohh vomit and oil, real sexy huh don't ya think Sunshine?"  
Lightning shuddered and responded with a deadpan glare, there was no was no amount of 'vomit and oil sexiness' that would ever be considered attractive to Lightning nor permit Fang within a ten-foot radius of her bike till Fang showered. "Shower."  
"Fine." Fang huffed and rolled her eyes, playing up her exasperation as she rose to her feet and unzipped her jeans. "Gimme a sec okay?" Fang winked and wiggled herself out of her jeans, shaking her behind for Lightning who looked away until Fang finally disappeared into the shower.

Half an hour later Fang emerged from the bathroom, moving across the room with a bounce in her step. Landing on the bed next to Lightning, Fang grinned as she radiated the flower shampoo she smothered herself in. "So where are we going Sunshine?"  
"The old naval harbour. It's where Serah and I last saw our parents." Lightning rolled her eyes when Fang shook her wet hair.  
"And you wanna take me there because?" Fang asked as she pulled on a shirt.  
Lightning shrugged and pushed herself to her feet. "Dunno, it's a nice ride and the view is nice I guess. Plus it's where I vowed to become a motorbike riding badass."  
Fang hopped to her feet and gave Lightning two thumbs up. "Alright then Sunshine sounds pretty sweet. Whenever you're ready."

Fang cooed and gripped her jeans to cull her excitement as she watched Lightning saddle herself on the entirely rebuilt CBR. Lightning put the key in the ignition but hesitated. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and gently pressed her hand to the bike. A small grin stretched across her face as she whispered softly under her breath. A moment passed and her hand traced up the body of the bike and turned the key. The machine burst to life with a mighty roar and a cheer from Fang who threw her arm over Lightning's shoulder.  
"Sooo Sunshine do ya love me?" Fang laughed as she took her helmet, stopping to blush when Lightning surprised her by sneaking a kiss to her cheek before quickly pulling her own helmet on. Ignoring the growing feeling in her chest, Lightning put the bike in gear and slowly pulled out of the garage, her heart racing at a million miles an hour as she shook off the rust. Lightning broke into a wide grin when she saw the complete lack of traffic on the road leading to the harbour and so she pulled on the accelerator a little more than sensibility would demand. Like it's rider, the bike tore across the road with incredible speed, the engine running at the limits of what Lebreau was able to work out of it. It's two occupants laughed in the wind and Fang tightened her grip around Lightning's waist a little more, honestly riding shotgun had always given her the chills and even more so as the trees flickered past at one hundred miles an hour.

Coming around to the old harbour, Lightning eased up on the accelerator and slowly came to a stop at the lookout where an eleven-year-old Lightning had once stood. Lightning sat and took a deep breath as she remembered the colossal fanfare that had once been. There had to have been thousands of people at the lookout watching, and another few thousand more down on the docks. "You okay?" Lightning asked concerned to Fang who still kept her grip tight around Lightning's stomach.  
"I'm fine just need a second." Fang said, reassuring Lightning it was just from riding shotgun and not that she didn't trust Lightning's skill with a bike. Prying herself off the bike, Fang made haste to the bench with wobbly legs. An older woman dressed in old-fashioned motorbike leathers with a cap and goggles laughed as the Pulsian perched herself beside her.  
"Well, I'm glad to see young people still enjoy the view." The woman turned a black and white picture over in her hand and folded it in two, stuffing it into the pocket of her jacket.  
Fang took a shaky breath and responded, "Yeah it's gorgeous. Honestly, I'm glad my girlfriend dragged me out here, I just wish that I wasn't so nervous about her riding though."  
"Her first time?" The woman asked.  
Fang shook head with a chuckle."No, she just had a uh, something of an accident with the last one, so she hasn't had a bike of her own in like three months." Fang cast her emerald eyes over to Lightning who was leaning against the barrier and stealing a glance of Fang, quickly turning her view back out over the boats docked in the harbour when their eyes locked. "Well I better go before she comes and drags me over. I'm Fang by the way. Love ya bike." Fang extended her hand to the woman.  
"Why thank you, you can just call me Maria." Maria said and shook Fang's hand, who turned and quickly jogged over to Lightning now having regained her legs.  
Maria stifled a laugh as Fang misjudged her stability and nearly tripped over herself, tumbling into Lightning.

Standing up Maria sighed softly as she gave the picture one last look, it was of her husband and her two daughters before she and her husband left for the war. Her boots crunched as she walked over to the barrier and bit her lip. "Marco Farron, goodbye dear." She whispered and tossed the picture out over the harbour, watching it flutter and fall to the ocean. Turning back to her bike, Maria slowly strolled over, giving the other duo a look over, the tanned woman was cuddling the other woman and kissed her helmet earning a flustered response from Maria who stopped mid-way on putting her goggles on. "Oh... so that's what she meant by girlfriend..."

* * *

 **A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I hope you all have a wonderful time with around this time of year, and a wonderful time now that 2018 is at an end. I also want to thank each and every one of you for taking to read my junk and help me get this far, speaking of which I'm floating around 10k views so without further ado *pretend confetti*. I would have never come this far without your support.**

 **Merry Christmas and have a big gay new year!**

 **\- A lowly and humble RaygunRenee**


	21. Chapter 21: A late x-mas present

Wings: Late Christmas Present

"Goodnight Lightning!" Aerith said as she grabbed her coat from her desk.  
"Wait, I'm nearly finished. Do you wanna walk me out?" Lightning asked, hurrying to tidied up what she little work she had.  
Pulling her coat tight around her, Aerith nodded and growled. "Alright, it's not like I'm eager to go out into that." Aerith glared through the windows and to the snow outside. "What the heck happened to that heat wave?"  
Lightning laughed at her partner despairing over the weather.  
"So why no bike?" Aerith asked.  
"I forgot my keys." Lightning groaned and grabbed her things. "I got so used to not riding my bike I just forgot them which also means the keys to my apartment." Lightning huffed and pulled her bag over her shoulder. "Please let Fang pick up her phone."  
"Girlfriend to the rescue, must be nice." Aerith sighed, sounding melancholy.  
Lightning pepped up and rolled her eyes. "What no dates for miss Gainsborough?"  
"Pfft as if. I've got one lined up tonight. It's actually a third date."  
"Third? So it's serious?"  
Aerith nodded and barely threw her arms out wide to disperse the energy suddenly surging inside of the brunette. "Yep and I'm really confident about it. I actually care about this one for once."  
"I'm really happy for you." Lightning smiled as she filed into the elevator behind Aerith. "So who is he?"  
"Well about that..." Aerith put her hands together and clenched her eyes shut. " It's actually a she."  
"Oh, well okay. I mean I wouldn't care even if I wasn't gay Aerith, plus in my experience girls tend to dicks less of the time. So is she umm, attractive and stuff?"  
Aerith giggled and threw her arms around Lightning. "Thank you Lightning."  
"Sheesh Aerith, I said I was fine with you liking girls not liking me Aerith."  
Aerith sighed and leant up against the wall. "Sorry Lightning. She is dreamy, a cute blonde that bought a sad old woman a drink."  
"So keeping mystery woman's name a secret then?" Lightning asked, and Aerith nodded.  
"Yeah if tonight goes well then I'll let you know." The brunette looked down to her phone and couldn't contain the small cry of happiness as she looked at the text from the mystery woman.  
'Hey Aeri, want me to meet you at your work? I really want to walk you home tonight.'  
Lightning watched silently as her friend slowly typed out a reply and stared at her phone a little longer, it had been a long time since she'd seen Aerith get love drunk over someone.

The elevator dinged and broke the comfortable silence between the detectives. Stepping out Lightning sighed and walked beside Aerith. "Well Aerith merry Christmas."  
Aerith jabbed lightning playfully and pouted. "Lightning it's new years already, Christmas is long gone kiddo."  
"Eh it's fine, I mean does anyone really care when Christmas was ninety-five degrees?"  
"Urgh please don't remind me. Why did Amodar give us fieldwork, the one day I was fine with slugging it behind a desk." Aerith complained, now a tad more appreciative of the cold weather. Stepping outside Aerith balled herself up and trudged through the cold, shocked by the sudden shift between the warmth of the air-con and the freezing cold weather outside. "You know what Lightning I'm starting to regret the cold."  
"Hmm but it makes a good excuse to cuddle up."  
Aerith nodded seeing the Lightning's wisdom, praising her in a serious tone. "I see now master."  
"God you're an idiot."  
"And I'm perfect as I am aren't I?"  
"Sure." Lightning shrugged. "As long as it doesn't put me and something life-threatening in the same sentence."  
"I'll try my best Lightning. Alright this is my-" Aerith laughed as she stepped out the gate.  
"Aeri!" Aerith smiled as a blonde hunkered down in thick clothing waved as she approached. The woman threw her arms Aerith and leant in to kiss her.  
Aerith dodged back and frowned, looking shy as her cheeks lit up. "Wait not here, she's looking."  
"Oh that's a person, your friend?" The woman asked and looked over Aerith's shoulder to Lightning, she had taken the other detective for a statue given how pale she was.  
Aerith nodded. "Yep and the best partner anyone could hope for." The brunette's cheeks were as pink as Lightning's hair by this point. "It's embarrassing Allie, I can't."  
"Sorry, I can't help myself. I see you looking so beautiful and I just want to drown in your arms. But I guess that means I get to keep that side of you all for myself." Allie said softly and stepped back, holding out her hand instead. "Alright then, shall we go?"  
"Sure, back to my place?"  
"Wait you're inviting me in, already?" Allie asked and bit her lip, surprised by the sudden leap in her relationship. They were only on the third date and Aerith was already inviting her over.  
"Too much?" Aerith asked and sighed in relief when Allie shook her head and smiled.  
"No I've wanted to see your place since I first saw you."  
The older woman nodded. "I mean it's pretty lame but I can't leave you out in this cold by yourself now can I. Plus I wouldn't mind the company." Aerith spun around and waved to Lightning. "Goodnight Lightning, Merry Christmas!"  
Allie looked to her Aerith and frowned. "Arie it's new years already."  
Lightning waved back and watched the duo trudge away through the snow. Saving her energy as much as she could, Lightning tucked herself into her jacket and away from the cold as much as possible. Hopefully Fang would arrive soon.

"Lightning!" Fang's eyes widened in horror at the sight of Lightning crouched down and balled up in the snow. Dropping her bag in the snow and pushed herself as fast as she could. Throwing herself around Lightning. "Lightning! Say something!"  
Lightning's eyes slowly open and she spoke through chattering teeth. "Y-you t-took y-your t-time!" Quickly unzipping the puffy thermal jacket she was wearing, Fang threw it around Lightning and huddled up against her, doing her best to warm her up. "Sorry I thought you'd be inside or something."  
"I would be but Aerith was leaving so I decided to leave with her, it's not often we actually finish at the same time."  
"Really? But you're partners aren't you?"  
Lightning nodded and scowled. "Well she's either ditching me for one of her dates or she finishes up on time." Lightning melted in the warmth of Fang's arms. "You're nice and warm."  
Fang nodded and tugged on the jacket Lightning was now wearing. "Yep, it's because I was wearing this jacket over my own, figured you could always use the extra warmth."  
"Why when I've got you?" Lightning teased and watched Fang go bright red.  
"Guess you've got me there Sunshine and I'm more than happy to warm you up." Fang said softly and leant in with the intent in taking the pale pink lips in her own. She stopped when Lightning gently nudged her back.  
"I'm sorry it's just... embarrassing." Lightning mimicked her partner's words, the event had stirred the thought in her too.  
"Aww. Well I guess I can't push it. So are we going to your place or my place?"  
Lightning shrugged. "Whichever is closer"  
"My place it is then. It's been a while hasn't it?" Fang took Lightning's hand and tucked it underneath her jacket. "I can do at least this much right?"  
"Mmm and this." Lightning said and shuffled a little closer, smiling as she felt Fang's hand go around her waist.  
"Oh wait before I forget." Fang stopped and took off the pink scarf she wearing. With a smirk stretched from ear to ear, she wrapped it around Lightning and pulled her closer.  
"What did I just say?" Lightning growled at Fang who just snickered and bit down on her lip.  
"Well then stop me Sunshine."  
But Lightning did nothing as Fang kissed her. "Merry Christmas Sunshine." Fang whispered and grinned back her, ignoring the glare Lightning was shooting at her.  
Lightning cuddled back up to Fang, delving back into Fang's warmth. "You know today is new years eve..."  
"Yeah I know but I didn't get the chance to say it to you until now." Fang pouted. "And I saw that scarf yesterday and thought it'd look great on you."  
Lightning scrunched her hands around the scarf and leaned into Fang. "Thanks, I love it Fang."

"I'm glad to hear it. So where's my gift?"

"What?" Lightning looked at Fang and hung her head. "Oh crap, I forgot."

"Age must be really getting to y-ouch!" Fang winced from the blow Lightning softly jabbed into her side. "I was kidding, Lightning I was joking."

Lightning crossed arms, letting the sadness show as sulked. "Fang you're the last person I need reminding me of how old I am."

"Hey Claire, I was joking. Besides you're twenty eight, that hardly qualifies you for being old." Taking Lightning's hands, Fang pulled her arms out of her sullen mood. "It's not like I'll ever care how old you are anyway Claire."

"So then what is it you love about me?"

Fang shrugged and pulled her closer, hoping that Lightning could hear her heart beating crazy in her chest. "Well I like seeing you vulnerable and exposed, like after sex. There's something about the moment when you open up and expose your feelings to me that just, I dunno, I guess I can't help but fall for you when you're so bloody cute. It's nearly like you think that you're not allowed to love or something, it's kinda sad really. But you let me tear all that away when I hold you in my arms."

Lightning mellowed out and nestled her head against Fang's shoulder. "I guess so. I always had other things to worry about."

"Hey Claire even if I didn't have a thing to pick out, I'd still love you. You don't need to worry about us ever okay?"

"Okay." Lightning nodded and smiled as she felt Fang's lips press against her cheek.

"So about my present, well how about a date? Just the two of us?" Fang looked to the cerulean eyes beside her.

"Sure got somewhere in mind?" Lightning asked.  
"Yeah well I was thinking something normal, like an aquarium or something." Fang rubbed the back of her neck. "I really should take you out more."

"Yeah but it's kind of hard isn't it? With me being a detective and you being a mechanic."

"Hey did you always want to be a detective?" Fang asked.

Lightning who shook her head. "No actually I'm only a detective because of Aerith. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a singer, kinda ruined that with all the shouting I do though."

"Nah you're voice is fine." Fang grinned and sucked in a deep breath.

"Oh god Fang are you-"

"MAKE MY WISH COME TRUE! ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU!" Fang shouted out aloud. With a snicker and a grin she turned to Lightning and pulled her along. "See I can't sing either but that don't stop me."

"You are embarrassing Fang." Lightning stepped closer to Fang and brought their faces together. "But you're the only person I want to sing for."

"Got it." Fang nodded and tugged on Lightning's hand, pulling her into a run beside her. "Then I wanna hurry home and hear it."


End file.
